The Pakistan Repatriation Council (PRC) organized a symposium titled ‘Repatriation of stranded Pakistanis – Our national obligation' on the occasion of the 38th anniversary of the ‘Fall of Dhaka' last week at a local restaurant in Jeddah. Chief guest Syed Nesar Ahmed, president of Muslim Welfare and Development Organization, spoke at length highlighting the miserable conditions of the Pakistanis stranded in Bangladeshi camps. “Their repatriation to Pakistan is the ultimate solution as their survival in the Bangladeshi camps is becoming difficult day by day,” he said. Senior journalist Rauf Tahir expressed appreciation for the PRC for organizing the symposium. “It is the legitimate right of the stranded Pakistanis to live in Pakistan and it is our national duty to help them in doing so,” said Tahir. Guest of honor Sameera Aziz, Saudi Gazette senior editor, in her message said that Pakistan should reactivate the Rabita Trust and organise the repatriation and rehabilitation of the stranded Pakistanis according to the PRC's proposal of ‘self-finance'. Citing the example of the Tamil refugees in Sri Lanka, Aziz urged the UNHCR to grant refugee status to the stranded Pakistanis. She also urged international charitable and human rights organizations to contribute in solving the issue. Others who spoke on the occasion included: Eng. Iftikhar Choudhry, Shahid Nayeem, president of Pakistan Journalists Forum; and Dr. Irfan Hashmi, vice president of Urdu Markaz, among others. Poets Athar Nafees Abbasi, Naseeme Sehar, Syed Mohsin Alavi, Abdul Qayyum Waseq, Zamurrad Khan Saifi and Gule Anwar read out their poems to mark the occasion. Various resolutions were passed by the gathering in the interest of the stranded Pakistanis. The Pakistani government was urged to award a medal of bravery (Sitara-e-Juraat) to Pakistani Farman Ali who saved 14 lives during the recent Jeddah floods and then succumbed to death in his effort to save more persons. Convener Ehsanul Haque praised the participating writers, journalists and poets for highlighting the cause of the stranded Pakistanis. The event was conducted by Syed Musarrat Khalil, recitation from the Holy Qur'an by Qari Abdul Majeed, and naat by Sher Afzal.
