KARACHI, Jan 8: Naib Amir of Jamaat-i-Islami Senator Prof Ghafoor Ahmad has said that the Al-Khidmat Welfare Society, Karachi, had so far contributed Rs1.75 billion for quake relief efforts and another Rs100 million towards other relief work during the past year. Addressing a press conference at the local JI office, Idara Noor-i-Haq, on Sunday, the he appealed the Karachiites to maintain the same level of cooperation they had always been extending by donating hides and skins of sacrificial animals to the Al-Khidmat.

He said that the funds generated through the sale of the skins and hides collected in Karachi would be spent on the welfare services in the same city.

In this regard, he referred to the Al-Khidmat’s activities viz-a-viz medical facilities, educational projects and financial assistance to orphans, widows and other deserving people. The finances for the ongoing relief projects in the interior of Sindh and other parts of the country are met from other resources, according to him.

Prof Ghafoor said: “Now when the MQM is a major component of the provincial coalition, and has taken over the city district government, principles of justice demand that all the laws and rules framed by the two governments should apply on MQM too, and the government must ensure their implementation in letter and spirit.”

He noted with concern that incidents of snatching of hides and skins or hijacking of vehicles carrying these donated items would occur nowhere in the country except Karachi.

He claimed that certain elements would issue a receipt for hide donation to anyone having brought a sacrificial animal to his home forcing him not to give away the hide to anybody else. Prof Ghafoor said that a defiant person would be subjected to threats of dire consequences.

“It is the duty of the provincial and city government to check the activities of such elements and ensure that everyone was able to donate the hide on his own free will.”

Prof Ghafoor deplored as ‘shameful’ that Al-Khidmat was being prevented from displaying banners with appeals for hides and skins despite the fact that other organizations were doing so without any restriction.

Dr Tabassum Jafri, Secretary of Al-Khidmat presented its annual audit report on the occasion whereas Karachi Amir of the JI Dr Mairajul Huda Siddiqui briefed journalists about the organization’s welfare activities.