LAHORE, Oct 29: Governor Khalid Maqbool says successful collective marriages are an important step towards the establishment of an Islamic society.

Speaking at a mass marriage ceremony at the Fortress Stadium here on Sunday, the governor said philanthropists were doing a great social service by helping the poor parents in the discharge of their religious responsibility of marriage of their daughters.

He said our society should feel proud of having people who understood problems of their fellow human beings and helped them in overcoming their difficulties.

The governor said the mass marriages were a sign of success of society and a proof of the trust of the people in its strength.

He said the government had allocated billions of rupees for the promotion of social welfare because it believed that the people with limited means had also a share in national resources.

Hamza Foundation chairman Shaikh Abid Husain, Amir Begum Welfare Trust chairperson Rubina Shaheen Wattoo, Muslim Commercial Bank chairman Mian Mansha and Punjab Social Welfare Minister Begum Ashifa Riaz lauded the efforts made by the governor for encouraging mass weddings to enable the poor parents to get their daughters married.

Badshahi Masjid Khateeb Qari Mohammad Ismail performed the ‘nikah’ ceremony of 50 Muslim couples while Priest Mushtaq Victor solemnised the marriage of five Christian couples belonging to Lahore, Sheikhupura and Kasur districts.

Governor’s House Vocational Training Institute girl students sang marriage songs, and governor’s wife Begum Rubina Khalid presented gifts to the newly-married couples.