KARACHI, Sept 29: Central Relief Coordinator of the Al-Khidmat, Pakistan, Niamatullah Khan, who is a former nazim of Karachi, has said that the Al-Khidmat Welfare Society would continue its relief activities in the quake-hit areas of Azad Kashmir and the NWFP until complete rehabilitation of the affected people.

“We had started relief work immediately after the Oct 8, 2005 quake purely to please Allah Almighty and assist the suffering humanity, and will continue the same till the rehabilitation of the last person. Those having political aims have left the quake victims long, long ago,” he told a news conference at the office of the Society here on Friday.

Amir of Jamaat-i-Islami, Karachi, Dr Mairajul Huda Siddiqui and Secretary of the Society Dr Tabassum Jafri were also present on the occasion.

Niamatullah Khan said that the Pakistani nation, as well as the international community, donated generously towards the relief of the people of quake-hit areas but after almost a year now, there were many challenges still being faced by these people. They still need continued assistance.

He said that in order to highlight the plight of the quake-affected people, and seek Almighty Allah’s forgiveness, the Society had decided to hold a prayer ceremony on October 8 at 8:55am in Muzaffarabad, to mark the quake anniversary. Big gatherings will follow, at around 10am, one at the same place and the other in Balakot.

Giving details of Al-Khidmat’s relief activities, he said it set up 55 relief camps in quake-hit areas of Muzaffarabad, Bagh, Abbotabad, Balakot, Batgram, Alai, Shangla, Basham, etc.

The Al-Khidmat, in collaboration with the PIMA, set up field hospitals in Azad Kashmir and NWFP where thousands of people injured in the quake were provided treatment, besides medicines worth millions of rupees. “Our central relief camp in Rawalpindi is still functioning day and night with 800 volunteers at its disposal,” he pointed out.

He said that more than 1,500 volunteers from Karachi alone rendered their valuable services in the quake-hit areas and many of them were still busy doing rehabilitation work. He said relief goods sent to the quake-hit areas in hundreds of containers were distributed among the affected people within weeks after the Oct 8 quake.

Mr Khan said that the Al-Khidmat had so far dispatched and distributed relief goods worth billions of rupees and they included commodities worth Rs3 billion collected in Karachi. The organisation also provided services in the distribution of the goods received from other countries, he added.

At present, he said, the Al-Khidmat was also working on a housing project under which 2,000 residential units were being constructed in various quake-hit areas.—PPI