ISLAMABAD: Vishraj was knocking the window of each vehicle, one by one, at a traffic signal on the intersection of the 7th Avenue and Khayaban-i-Suhawardi, near Aabpara market in Islamabad.

He was trying his best to convince the drivers and the passengers of the vehicles to donate money to the flood victims in Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

The 24-year-old is a resident of Larkana district and is studying in the Electronics department at the Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) Islamabad. “It is difficult for me to explain the situation of the people of my country due to the floods in Punjab and AJK,” said Vishraj, “I believe that is the right time to work for the welfare of the people, who are suffering due to these floods.”

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He said that he and his friends discussed the idea to collect the funds for the relief and rehabilitation of the flood victims and discovered that all his classmates were ready to participate in the fundraising activity.

The response of the people is very positive, he said, adding that they have succeeded in collecting over Rs60,000 within three hours.

Like Vishraj, 21-year-old Asad Tahir from Jhang, who studies in QAU’s Economics department, is also collecting the funds.

Asad said that it is unfortunate that the people of his district have to witness floods every year. He said that it is not easy for the poor people to re-construct their houses due to lack of resources.

“I can understand the pain and the suffering of my district’s residents. That is why I have decided to take the initiative to involve more and more students of different departments to collect funds for the flood victims,” he added.

Ahmed Shehroz, 20, a resident of Lahore, is also studying in the Economics department of QAU. “I am very happy to spend three hours collecting funds for the support of the flood victims, we will continue this routine to collect more funds,” he said.

Dr Muhammad Idrees, an assistant professor in the Economics department and the head of QAU’s welfare society, said that the students are collecting the funds to distribute food and medicines among the flood victims with support of the university management.

“We have decided to visit markets and residential areas to collect funds,” Dr Idrees said, adding the both men and women at the university are enthusiastically taking part in the fundraising.

Riaz Mughal, a passenger at the traffic signal, told Dawn that he was pleased to see the youth take an initiative to collect funds for the flood victims. He said he was sure that the money will be used for the right purposes, i.e. to help the flood victims.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2014