HYDERABAD, Oct 9: About Rs14 million was collected at a “Sufi musical night charity function” organised by the PPP-backed “Save the Flood and Disaster Victims” held at the Mumtaz Mirza Auditorium on Saturday night to raise funds for rain and flood-affected people in Sindh.
Federal Minister for Law and Senator Moula Bux Chandio, former minister of state Ms Shagufta Jumani, Speaker Sindh Assembly Nisar Khuhro, Sindh Cultural Minister Sassui Palijo, provincial Minister for Special Education Syed Ali Nawaz Shah, Minister for Fisheries Zahid Bhurgari, Minister for Minority Affairs Mohan Lal, legislators and PPP leaders from Sindh, Punjab and other parts of the country, businessmen, the civil society and philanthropists.
They said on the occasion that the PPP government would not leave the affected people alone in this difficult time and efforts would be made for their rehabilitation.
They appealed to well-to-do people, organisations and local and international bodies to come forward and cooperate with the Sindh government in its relief and rehabilitation efforts with their technical and financial support.
They described the devastations caused by torrential rains as unprecedented and vowed to rehabilitate the affected people.
Mr Chandio told reporters that the PPP was helping the affected people but its opponents had made the natural disaster a political issue and were misguiding for their motives.
He rejected a perception about political change and said that PPP’s opponents had isolated themselves with their wrong policies.
Although the PML-N had launched a campaign against the PPP by exploiting natural disasters, he said, the PPP did not raise the issue of dengue virus in Punjab because the PPP believed in politics of principles.
He said that PPP’s reconciliation policy had put the country on the path of development which required everyone to avoid the policy of confrontation.
Speaker Nisar Khuhro said the federal and Sindh governments were working with sincerity to help the rain-affected people, but opponents of the PPP were creating hurdles in relief and rehabilitation.
He said history was witness to the fact that the PPP stood by people in difficult times.
Sassui Palijo said the torrential rains had caused large-scale devastation and displacement and damaged the agricultural sector.
The situation, she said, posed many threats. She appealed to the United Nations and other national and international organisations to help the Sindh government in its efforts to cope with the difficult situation.
She said failure to provide timely relief would make it difficult to save human lives. The federal and Sindh governments, she said, had prepared long-and short-term plans to minimise losses.
Lauding the efforts of the PPP unit for organising the charity programme, she announced that such events would also be held in Islamabad and Karachi.
In reply to a question about damage to archaeological sites, she said Naon Kot Qilla had been seriously damaged and Mohanjo Daro partially affected. A team of experts has been dispatched to archaeological sites to conduct a survey of damage and prepare a plan for their repair.
The contributions announced at the event included Rs5 million by the Punjab chapter of the PPP, Rs1million by Tahirul Mulk from Gujrat, Rs500,000 each from Ms Sassui Palijo, the district government and the district police of Hyderabad.