Pakistan People's Community (PPC) organized Friday night a special Urdu Mushaira (poetry recitation evening) on stranded Pakistanis. Participating poets from the Kingdom included Athar Nafees Abbasi, Mohammad Habib Siddiqui, Naseem Sehar, Shahid Nayeem, Syed Mohsin Alavi, Abdul Qayyum Waseq, Zamurrad Khan Saifi, Mohammad Nawaz Janjua, Mohammad Asad Khan, Syed Mahtab Ahmed, Gulzar Awan, Tasawwur Hussain Choudhry, Mian Mateen Aslam, Mona Najmi and Sania Zia from Jeddah. The poems of Shaukat Jamal, Mohammad Naeem Awan, Sadaf Afridi, Lateef Afaqi from Riyadh, Qudsiah Nadeem Lali from Al-Khobar, Gule Anwar from Khamis Mushayt and Anwar Akmal President of OBAT Helpers, USA were presented in their absence. Syed Riaz Bukhari, President of Pakistan Peoples Community, fully endorsed PRC's mission of repatriation and rehabilitation of stranded Pakistanis and promised that his organization will extend all help to formally approach new leadership to understand the importance of this national and humanitarian issue. He said that those patriotic Pakistanis have the legitimate right to Pakistani citizenship and we must help them acquire it. In the past 20 years of military rule not a single stranded Pakistanis was repatriated while over 160,000 were brought in 1973 by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and hundreds were brought in 1993 by Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif maintained the Rabita Trust which was later frozen in 2001. Ehsanul Haque, convener PRC, said until now journalists, poets and writers carried on the issue but now with the support of democratic and ruling group the issue would get due priority. He paid tribute to Late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto for solving partially the issue and brining democracy back to the country. Qari Shakeel, leader of Pakistan Muslim League, extended full support to PRC. He said PML is committed in solving the issue and very soon its leader Nawaz Sharif will take allies into confidence and process of repatriation will restart. Tasawwur Hussain Choudhry, chief organiser PPC, thanked all poets for their valuable contribution in projecting the issue of stranded Pakistanis. Ex-senator Jamiluddin Aaali from Karachi in his brief message praised all those who highlight told the issue of stranded Pakistanis under Pakistani Peoples Community. He said anyone working for those patriotic Pakistanis is simply doing his patriotic duty and a noble work. The Mushaira was conducted by PRC general secretary Naseem Sehar, Tilawat Qur'an by Qari Abdul Majeed, Hamd by Mohammad Nawaz Janjua and Naat by Sher Afzal preceded the Mushaira. __
