UNITED NATIONS, June 28 (APP):\u00a0Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to United Nations Dr Maleeha Lodhi hosted\u00a0Eid-ul-Fitr reception\u00a0at United Nations Headquartersin New York,Ambassador Lodhi, who welcomed the guests, said that the month\u00a0of Ramadan is a time for prayers, abstinence and reflection when\u00a0Muslims re-affirm their duty to each other and to those who are\u00a0less fortunate.<\/p>\n
It is the first time that the Pakistan Mission held the<\/p>\n
\u2018Eid Milan\u2019 party in the U.N. building where the President of<\/p>\n
the UN General Assembly, Peter Thomson, was the chief guest.<\/p>\n
At the request of Ambassador Lodhi, the guests observed<\/p>\n
a one-minute silence in remembrance of those who lost their<\/p>\n
lives in the recent tragedies in Pakistan.<\/p>\n
Thomson, who hails from Fiji, wished \u201cEid Mubarak\u201d to<\/p>\n
the distinguished guests and then delighted the Pakistanis<\/p>\n
among them when he hailed Pakistan\u2019s victory in the ICC<\/p>\n
cricket championship at the Oval.<\/p>\n
\u201cCongratulations Pakistan! World champions!!\u201d he said, as loud\u00a0applause rang out.<\/p>\n
The Pakistani envoy welcomed the guests in the space reserved<\/p>\n
for the reception that was adorned by portraits of the Quaid-e-Azam<\/p>\n
and Allama Iqbal as well as a reminder that Pakistan is candidate<\/p>\n
for a seat on the Geneva-based Human Rights Council.<\/p>\n
Ms. Mohammed, the deputy secretary-general, used the occasion<\/p>\n
to highlight Islamic values and to voice her disappointment at<\/p>\n
the negative portrayal of Islam.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is particularly painful to all of us when the name of our<\/p>\n
beloved religion is misused in ways that are direct anti-thesis<\/p>\n
of the values we cherish,\u201d she said. \u201cWe see this happening every<\/p>\n
day, in conflict zones in the Middle East, in Africa including<\/p>\n
my own country, Nigeria; in Europe, in the United States, and<\/p>\n
all over the world. But we will never allow those who commit<\/p>\n
crimes in the name of Islam, to distract us from our dedication<\/p>\n
to our faith and to the well-being of our fellow men and women.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has been a difficult Ramadan. Hundreds of lives\u2013 mainly<\/p>\n
Muslims \u2014 have been lost in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Nigeria, in<\/p>\n
the UK and elsewhere, As Muslims, we feel these losses very<\/p>\n
personally and painfully. Many of us may wonder how we reached<\/p>\n
this point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms. Mohammed added, \u201cMuslims are the main victims of the<\/p>\n
violent conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and the Lake Chad<\/p>\n
Basin. But those who flee war, have lost family, friends and<\/p>\n
homes, may face discrimination and even abuse when they arrive<\/p>\n
in what they hoped were places of safety. They may be mistakenly<\/p>\n
identified with the violence and hared if those who drove<\/p>\n
them away,\u201d<\/p>\n
She emphasized that the response to this double tragedy must<\/p>\n
be that of peace and doing no harm.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur message, the message of the United Nations, is that we<\/p>\n
will overcome extremism, hared, violence and conflict by working<\/p>\n
together, by showing compassion and generosity to each other,<\/p>\n
and and by nurturing and cherishing the true spirit and values<\/p>\n
of Islam.\u201d<\/p>\n
Traditional Pakistani dishes were served and the country\u2019s popular\u00a0songs were played.Female diplomats availed of the<\/p>\n
Henna that was being applied by Pakistani interns and were thrilled\u00a0to receive traditional bangles that are so popular at Eid\u00a0in Pakistan.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
APP\/saima<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UNITED NATIONS, June 28 (APP):\u00a0Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to United Nations Dr Maleeha Lodhi hosted\u00a0Eid-ul-Fitr reception\u00a0at United Nations Headquartersin New York,Ambassador Lodhi, who welcomed the guests, said that the month\u00a0of Ramadan is a time for prayers, abstinence and reflection when\u00a0Muslims re-affirm their duty to each other and to those who are\u00a0less fortunate. It is the first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":30904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-30902","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-video","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national","8":"post_format-post-format-video"},"video_url":[],"featured_media_src_url":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/6-4.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30902"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30911,"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30902\/revisions\/30911"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}