KARACHI, July 1: Over a 100 handicapped children were entertained with music at an elite seaside restaurant on Monday afternoon.

The function was organized by artist and social worker, Jimmy Engineer, under the “Food and Fun for Handicapped Children” project.

The provincial health minister, Ahsan Ahmad, said that it was the duty of the government to look after the handicapped, but very little was being done about it. Most of the work in this field is being done by NGOs, he noted.

He urged parents not to hide their handicapped children from other people and instead bring them in contact with others. In this way, they would gain confidence and it would be comparatively easier for them to face the challenges of life, he added.

He also urged the organizations teaching special children to expose their students to other children. He paid tributes to the teachers teaching handicapped children, saying that it was a noble cause indeed.

He also urged philanthropists to come forward and assist the people and organizations helping special children. He said that he would try to assist all such organizations in every way possible.

Earlier, Jimmy Engineer said that our society did not treat the handicapped properly and they were not provided the facilities that their counterparts in the developed countries enjoyed as a matter of right.

He said that he organized such programmes so that the handicapped could have fun while highlighting the issues they faced. He hoped that eventually the society would realize its responsibility towards special people and solve their problems.

Tasleem Masood of Salt ‘n’ Pepper Village said that he was happy to see that the project which was started from the same restaurant over a year back had succeeded and many other hotels and restaurants had now joined the noble cause.

Stage and television artist Farzana Naz and students of the Ida Rieu School and College for the Blind and the Deaf, Zainab, Tasleem, Saleem Qureshi and others sang national and folk songs. Fawzia Siddiqui of Sada Welfare Foundation distributed gifts among the children.

A cake was also cut by the minister and 12-year-old Cookie, who came to Darul Sukoon when she just a day old, to celebrate the birthday of the founder of Darul Sukoon, Sister Gertrude.

The children of Ida Rieu School and College for the Deaf and Blind, Darul Sukoon and Missionary of Charity are looked after by Sisters of Mother Teresa who also participated.