ISLAMABAD, Feb 26 (APP): President Dr Arif Alvi on Wednesday said serving the ailing humanity and the destitute people was the main purpose of life and it was a matter of pride that the Pakistanis were ahead of other nations in the social welfare work.
Speaking at the foundation laying ceremony of Al-Mairaj Habib Trust Hospital Barakahu here, the president said the best quality of Pakistani nation was that its philanthropists were aware of their responsibility and rose to the occasion without waiting for the government’s response in case of any emergency or crisis.
Citing the example of the October 2010 earthquake in Pakistan, he said besides the world community, the local people wholeheartedly came to the rescue of the earthquake victims.
The president lauded the passion of Pakistani people for carrying out social welfare work and stressed that the country was in dire need of such kind of a passion as it was now facing economic difficulties.
He said the building of shelter homes, health facilities and orphanage centers were of paramount importance for a state, which should not keep itself confined to constructing roads and dams. It should formulate such a system and policies to tax the haves and spend the same on the have-nots. It was also the responsibility of the state to provide jobs, education and health facilities to the people, he added.
Dr Alvi said the economic difficulties were temporary and the country soon would get rid of them. The real work was to serve the humanity and by the grace of Allah Almighty that noble work was continuing in Pakistan.
“Being Muslims, we have learnt all these things from our religion Islam and Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him).”
He said,“We as a nation should learn lessons from our mistakes as in the decades of 1960’s and 70’s, Pakistan was leading in all sectors, and other nations had copied our best economic and planning policies and became prosperous.”
President Alvi said those countries and nations, who were lecturing the others on human rights, were now closing their borders to refugees. On the contrary, Pakistan despite being a poor country hosted 5.1 million Afghan refugees for four decades and even today 2.5 million were still living there. “This is our character and the real essence of Pakistan,” he added.
He said the Pakistani people were facing a number of health issues like malnutrition, stunting and hepatitis, and the well-to-do would have to come forward to tackle them. All those philanthropists, who were contributing towards the welfare of society, particularly the downtrodden, deserved appreciation, he added.
Patron-in-chief of Customs Healthcare Society and Al-Mairaj Trust Hospital Dr Asif Mahmood Jah, in his welcome address, highlighted various projects of the society.
He said Prime Minister Imran Khan was his role model in the noble cause. He started his welfare work from Faisalabad some 26 years ago and today a number of projects for the welfare of the ailing community in health, education, drinking water and farming sectors had been completed across the country, he added.
Besides providing health facilities, he said, the hospital would also serve as a community centre for the local people of Barakahu.
APP/Zaheer/HB
