JEDDAH – Twin-Cities Youth Welfare Association (TCYWA) Jeddah felicitated a visiting (All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen) AIMIM supporter Ather Farooqui, here in Jeddah recently. Heads of various socio-organizations Mohammed Shameem Kausar, Aijaz Ahmed Khan, Syed Jamalullah Qadri, Aleem Khan Falaki, Siadat Ali Khan, Khadar Memon and a host of others graced the occasion. Dr. Syed Ali Mahmood, chief patron Bazm-e-Ittehad Jeddah, was the chief guest. Farooqui emphasized the need for unity among the varied class of people to look beyond boundaries to work for the advancement of the community in different spheres of lives. “For this, I evolved a strategy to combat the evil forces by empowering the youth to take-up challenges seriously and create an atmosphere where one can able to express his sentiments without any prejudice and redress grievances — i.e. speak from the bottom of your heart so that your voices reach the top to have greater influences,” Farooqui said. He said, “The bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh state is good for the community, and for sure, I envisage in the very near future our leader Akbaruddin Owaisi will be the first Muslim Chief Minister of the newly formed Telangana state and this development will definitely have an immense pressure at the center too.” He added: “The only way to achieve success for the minority is to stand united and AIMIM is doing its level best to fulfill the aspirations of minorities on a greater scale. The party works from the grass roots levels to boost the minorities' financial, educational and political aspects and for the protection of their rights and dignity.” In his welcome address, TwinCities President Syed Khaja Viqaruddin expressed gratitude to Farooqui for his sincere efforts in creating youth awareness program back home in India, and to involve them in a just cause. Viqaruddin said, “The forthcoming general elections are very crucial for the community and so the youth of today should have the courage to face the growing communalism in order to sustain the secular fabric of the society.” He added: “We therefore conducted this youth awareness program with Farooqui to get a vivid picture of the political scenarios prevailing in India, and I believe that the youth of today are the real driving-force behind every revolutionary change that are aimed for the betterment of the society at large.” Chief Guest Dr. Syed Ali Mahmoud, while thanking Twin Cities, said: “I fully endorse the sentiments of Viqaruddin that the elections are the real turning point to bring drastic changes at the top to protect the community being trapped under the chorus of the vested interest who try to create confusions in the name of nationalism.” Socio-Reforms Society President Aleem Khan Falaki said: “Farooqui is a man of vision and a social reformist and I am indebted to his ideas and I want to share an incident wherein Farooqui's extempore speech on anti-dowry campaign, that was delivered at the girl's junior college back home in India, made a great impact upon the young minds.” Chief Patron of KTT Jeddah, Mohammed Shameem Kausar presented a copy of the Holy Qur'an to Farooqui while Sayeed Haroon and Mirza Qudrath Baig presented flower bouquets. Earlier the program started with recitation of some verses from the Holy Qur'an by Qari Syed Lateef Qadri followed by a Deccani-style devotional ‘Naat' by Aminuddin Ansari. The anchor of the event was the General Secretary of the forum Khaja Muzaffaruddin. Director Azmat Ali Emran in his brief speech recounted the association's prominent activities. He said Twin-Cities focuses upon all round development of the youth especially in the field of education, lifestyle and sports. Towards the end, the forum's Vice-President Abdul Razzaq Mohiuddin conveyed a vote-of-thanks.
