The Pakistan Repatriation Council (PRC) has appealed to all overseas Pakistanis, particularly those in Saudi Arabia, to “come forward immediately to help the flood victims of our country”. At a recent Independence Day function here attended by several prominent Pakistani citizens, the PRC urged Pakistani compatriots to remit funds “so that food, tents, medicines and other critical needs can be supplied to those who are living under the open sky surrounded by flood water”. The PRC also urged President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to seriously consider building Kala Bagh, Bhasha and other dams after consultations with the concerned provinces. Moreover, the PRC demanded that Zardari and Gilani reactivate the Rabita Trust (frozen in October 2001) and restart the process of repatriation and rehabilitation of Pakistani citizens stranded in Bangladesh. It also asked the Pakistan leaders to “use the UN, the US and other countries to influence India to conduct a plebiscite in Kashmir as requested by a UN resolution. Earlier, the chief guest at the function, Nayeem Hamid Al-Hamid, renowned writer and poet, praised PRC for organizing the national event. Regarding the grim flood situation in the country, Al-Hamid said millions of flood victims are in need of help and “everyone should come forward to help them”. In his presidential address, the well-known poet Naseem Sehar urged Pakistanis to show solidarity and extend generous help to the flood victims. “Continuous calamities like earthquakes and floods are a warning from Allah and we must take corrective measures to build Pakistan according to its objectives and mission,” he said. Syed Ehsanul Haque, the PRC convener and the indefatigable campaigner for stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh, took the occasion to remind everyone of the “quarter million of our brethren who have been living in very miserable conditions in 66 camps in Bangladesh for four decades as a result of the their unflinching loyalty to Pakistan”. Haque praised the Pakistani community's constant support for their compatriots in distress.
