KARACHI, Jan 13: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement has mobilized aid for the tsunami victims to the tune of Rs52 million, out of which Rs32 million were in kind and the remaining in cash.
This was stated by Dr Farooq Sattar, deputy-convenor of the MQM coordination committee and parliamentary party leader in the National Assembly, at a news conference at the Khidmat-i-Khalq Foundation headquarters on Thursday. He was accompanied by president of the KKF, Shaikh Liaquat Hussain.
Giving details of the humanitarian assistance provided by the MQM to tsunami victims in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Maldives, Dr Sattar said that so far the KKF had provided financial assistance worth more than Rs3.6 million to the victims besides commodities worth Rs7.8 million.
During the next few days commodity aid worth Rs28 million and cash assistance worth Rs12 million would be despatched to the affected countries. Dr Sattar said that the MQM mounted humanitarian assistance campaign within and outside Pakistan on the directives of its founder Altaf Hussain, who was disturbed by the colossal human tragedy caused by the tsunami earthquake.
Dr Sattar recalled that the party's American units handed over cheques of US$5,000 each to the embassies of Sri Lanka and Thailand in the USA. A cheque of equal amount was also handed over to the director, UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
The MQM's United Kingdom unit donated 50,000 pound sterling for the tsunami victims, he said, adding that out of this amount a cheque of 30,000 pound sterling was handed over to the Indonesian mission in London, while separate cheques of 10,000 pound sterling each were handed over to the embassies of Sri Lankan and Maldives in the British capital.
Giving details of the commodities collected from different parts of the country for tsunami victims, Dr Sattar said that on the directive of Altaf Hussain the party had established 58 relief camps in Karachi, 16 in Interior Sindh, 15 in the outskirts of Karachi, and four camps in Punjab, while a similar drive was also launched in the overseas units of the party.
He said that the 10-day drive ended on Jan 10, and now the relief goods were being sent to the affected countries. Dr Sattar said that the consul general of Sri Lanka stationed at Karachi, Manuel De Silva had visited the central office of the KKF to review the collection of relief goods.
She also choose commodities of daily use and medicines, which had been handed over to her for transportation to Sri Lanka, he added. He said that Indonesian diplomats Nugraha Purniawan and Ent Jim Herianto also visited the KKF office and showed their interest in procuring relief goods.
"The relief goods will be send to Indonesian city of Medan and all expanses will be borne by the KKF in this regard," he added. He said that the KKF was also in touch with the government of Maldives and soon the relief goods would be sent as per its requirement.
