Tag: relief fund

  • PM Shehbaz says Pakistan will never leave Turkey, Syria alone in these circumstances

    PM Shehbaz says Pakistan will never leave Turkey, Syria alone in these circumstances

    Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif on Friday announced that the federal government has allocated Rs10 billion to help Turkey’s earthquake relief efforts.

    The premier said that Pakistan will never leave alone Turkey in these circumstances, urging the nation to pray for the victims of the earthquake in Friday prayers today.

    “I believe that the people of Turkey and Syria will come out of this difficulty,” he said, adding that Pakistan assured Turkey of assistance on the very day the tragedy took place.

    “A committee has been formed to send funds to Turkey. 1,486 tonnes of relief goods are being sent to Turkey and Syria,” he added.

    The premier said that the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) will purchase relief items — such as tents, clothes, blankets and dry food — from the fund and dispatch them to Turkiye.

    “Destruction of such magnitude is seldom seen, where parents have lost their children and infants have become orphans […] there are dreadful visuals everywhere,” he noted.

    However, the prime minister asserted that under the leadership of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the people of Turkiye would emerge out of the crisis. “And so will our brothers in Syria,” he said.

    More than 21,000 people have died in Turkiye after an earthquake of magnitude 7.8 struck the region in the early hours of Monday morning. The hope of pulling out survivors from underneath the rubble diminishes as the days pass and freezing temperatures continue unabated.

  • VIDEO: ‘PM didn’t recognise me,’ says Faisal Edhi, who met Imran to donate Rs1 crore

    Son of the late philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi and incumbent head of the Edhi Foundation, Faisal Edhi, has said that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan didn’t recognise him when they met in Islamabad earlier this week, as the former donated Rs10 million (1 crore) to the premier’s coronavirus relief fund.

    “Initially, he didn’t recognise me,” Edhi told anchorperson Nadeem Malik on his show on Thursday night.

    He said the PM didn’t even talk to him for six or seven minutes — until one of the two industrialists sitting with PM Imran, one of whose father’s body was bathed [ghusl] by Abdul Sattar Edhi in New York, recognised him.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    https://twitter.com/nadeemmalik/status/1250829957691047937

    “He told the premier that I was [Abdul Sattar] Edhi Sahab’s son, after which PM Imran recognised me,” Edhi said.

    “We had a half-minute talk at the door of his office,” the Edhi Foundation head said, adding that he told the premier how he wanted to establish a university in the name of his father.

    PM Imran had announced the establishment of corona relief fund on March 27 in order to to provide relief to the people amid coronavirus crisis.

    The premier had emphasised on providing relief to the neglected segments of the society and urged the people to help those in need. He had added that the federal government was mapping deserved persons to directly provide them financial assistance.

  • People choosing not to donate? PM’s coronavirus relief fund gets only Rs225m in 11 days

    People choosing not to donate? PM’s coronavirus relief fund gets only Rs225m in 11 days

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran’s Khan coronavirus relief fund, which was set up in March to assist the government in mitigating the impact of the global pandemic, seems to not have attracted generous donations as it has received only Rs225 million within the first 11 days — since March 30.

    According to data shared by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) with officials of the Ministry of Finance, Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and Ehsaas Programme, as of April 10 — the date of the last update — the total amount in the fund stood at Rs225 million.

    Analysts say that a possible explanation for this low figure lies in the fact that a number of private organisations and individuals are actively participating in relief activities themselves, having fewer reasons to donate to the PM’s fund.

    It, however, isn’t the first time when such a programme has received disappointing responses. The dams fund created by PM Imran and the Supreme Court (SC) to collect $12 billion for the construction of Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams was excessively promoted on multiple media forums, but could only gather Rs12 billion, including over Rs1.7 billion from overseas Pakistanis.

    Meanwhile, the premier has appealed to overseas Pakistanis to donate generously to help the government cope with the ongoing health crisis in the country.

    In a video message released Monday, he noted that the entire world was struggling against the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The lockdown has adversely affected the world economy, resulting in growing poverty across the globe, especially in developing countries like Pakistan, he said. 

  • Pakistani billionaire announces Rs1 billion for COVID-19 battle

    As Pakistan wages war on the coronavirus pandemic, chairperson of Dawood Hercules Corporation — parent organisation of Pakistani multinational conglomerate Engro Corporation — and billionaire Hussain Dawood has announced pledging a contribution in services, kind and cash of Rs1 billion for a short, medium and long-term basis, on behalf of Dawood Hercules, Engro and his family.

    “We are committed to help solve some of the most pressing issues of our time and it is incumbent upon us to serve our nation best when it needs us most.  These are our fundamental values that continue to be at the core of what we strive to achieve,” Hussain said in a press release issued Thursday

    “We must work on several fronts concurrently. The need of the hour is to target on reducing the spread and impact of this virus,” he emphasised.

    The group further said it would focus on disease prevention, with a major focus on testing and diagnostics, protecting and enabling healthcare practitioners and other key workers, who are at the frontline of the fight against this pandemic, enabling patient care and facilities; and to bolster livelihoods and sustenance of the most deserving in society.

    The company also welcomed the efforts by the government and other organisations who have stepped up to this challenge.

    The contribution comes a day after Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan announced a relief fund to fight the coronavirus epidemic and urged everyone to donate.

    “Prime Minister’s COVID-19 Pandemic Relief Fund-2020 has been set up to help us fight this pandemic. I want everyone to donate towards this fund which will be used to take care of all those who have been made destitute by the lockdown,” he had tweeted.