LAHORE: As the relief work is still going on in the flood-hit areas of Punjab, Punjabi Sikhs from the UK have also responded to the call for help of the unprecedented floods that hit the length and breadth of Pakistan.

It’s the fourth day (Sunday) for Nasir Dhillon of Punjabi Lehar in south Punjab. He is currently doing relief work in the Rojhan area of Rajanpur district after spending some days in the Vehova town of Taunsa Sharif in district Dera Ghazi Khan.

“Most relief workers and organisations go to cities or towns and they don’t go to the rural and katcha areas where there is still floodwater standing and people are stranded. We select such areas and go there.” Dhillon says that they hire boats or motorcycles to reach out to such people and deliver them the items of the need.

“We cook food at langar for around 1,500 people daily and set up medical camps. There are 25 to 30 volunteers here with me. Only kitchen workers are paid, the rest are volunteers.”

Nasir says they are also doing the survey along with the relief work as people are desperate here and right information is needed to see who deserves the help most.

His team includes doctors from Faisalabad, Lahore and Chiniot. Their initial plan is to remain in the area for two weeks and the Khalsa Aid wants to continue it for months.

They are being helped by Khalsa Aid, a UK-based humanitarian relief charity founded by Ravi (Ravinder) Singh.

“Khalsa Aid has bigger plans for rehabilitation, including construction of homes and it is raising funds in the western countries.

“In this time of trouble, there is a chance of promotion of love between communities as well as India and Pakistan. They are working here today and tomorrow if there is some natural calamity, the Pakistanis should work there also,” he suggests.

There is a rehabilitation phase as people who survived the flood have got their homes destroyed, Nasir says and adds that the people don’t have any food or anything of use left with them.

Gurpreet Singh, the operations manager of Khalsa Aid, says after the flood devastations in Pakistan, they thought of engaging in flood relief activities and there were requests from the social media users too for help. The operations of the Khalsa Aid are not restricted to Punjab only.

“First of all, we engaged Nasir Dhillon to work with us in south Punjab.Now three teams are working not only in Punjab but also in Swat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sukkur in Sindh,” says Singh while talking to Dawn by phone from the UK.

The team of the Khalsa Aid which is engaged in Sukkur started working from the Gurdwara Beri Sahib in Sialkot and it is preparing food and other items of need and sending them to Sukkur in Sindh province.

“Our Sukkur team provided tents to at least 250 families today (Sunday) and arranged langar for them two or three times a day. The team will expand the work further on Monday.” The Swat team in KP is working in the area of Bahrain near Swat.

Mr Singh says that the organisation has made an appeal in the UK for provision of tents as they are immediately needed for shelter and these tents would be sent to Pakistan with the cooperation of the British Airways within a week.

Talking about the long-term rehabilitation of the flood affectees, Gurpreet Singh says that Khalsa Aid is still working in the East Punjab where the flood caused devastation in 2019 while the organisation was still engaged there in rehabilitation despite the passage of three years.

“Similarly, we have a long-term rehabilitation plan. However, we would assess it first and target the gaps left by the government and other organisations.”

He says we would see what we can do for reconstruction, employment or livestock in the affected areas.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2022