By Waqar Naseem Wamiq
RIYADH — Indus Cultural and Social Forum (ICSF) recently organized an event at a local banquet hall to honor newly joined embassy officials and to showcase the volunteer programs of ICSF and Sindh Association of North America (SANA) with the collaboration of Sindh Skills Development Program (SSDP).
The event was highly attended by the community members. Pakistan›s Ambassador Manzoor ul Haq and his wife Nighat Manzoor were the chief guests of the occasion. Military Attaché Brig. Shahid Manzoor, Air and Naval Attaché Arshad Mumtaz Khan, Community Welfare attachés Abdul Shakoor Sheikh and Mahmood Latif, Commercial Attaché Dr. Amir Hussain, First Secretary Sardar Muhammad Khattak, Nadra (NICOP) head Ashraf Khan and Deputy Director of the Passports Section Sadeeq Akbar were the guests of honor.
All the guests were welcomed by ICSF with beautiful traditional gifts of Sindhi Ajraks.
Speaking on the occasion Ambassador Haq praised the contributions of ICSF/SANA with the collaboration of SSDP. He highlighted the significance of the Indus Valley civilization.
“Mohenjo Daro is considered to be the oldest and the most civilized settlements of the ancient Indus Valley civilization. Pakistan is blessed with such a strong heritage and cultural background,” he said.
ICSF President Asadullah Jathial conducted the program. In his welcome note, Jathial gave a brief introduction of ICSF.
He said the ICSF was established in 2010 to promote the Sindhi culture and heritage and to spread the message of peace, harmony and solidarity between communities.
A brief presentation on ICSF/SANA volunteer programs was given by Dr. Mansour Memon. He said SSDP, which is self-financed free service provider to end users, has no international donors.
Mansour elaborated on the purpose of a meaningful life by mentioning some great Pakistanis. “Life for Edhi was welfare for all, for Amjad Saqib was Akhuwat, for Shermeen Obeid was justice for women. For Dr. Bari of Indus Hospital is health for all, for Malala it is education for women and for SSDP it is to invest in youth,” Mansour said.
Ghulam Qadir Mallah presented the statistics of achievements. He said SSDP facilitated the recruitment of hundreds of talented youth in different specialties in just a matter of three years. SSDP was founded in April 2015 and is an officially certified NGO, which is headquartered in Hyderabad, Sindh, Mallah pointed out.
“The SSDP holds regular health education and awareness seminars in schools and hand hygiene and hepatitis prevention workshops and prepare individuals for interviews and job hunt successfully with positive results,” Mallah said.
Prominent community member Rashid Mahmood Butt lauded the efforts of ICSF/SANA and SSDP while revealing plans to establish branches in other areas.
Zeeshan Qazi, general secretary of ICSF, proposed the vote of thanks.
‘We are highly thankful to His Excellency Ambassador Manzoor ul Haq, embassy officials and the representatives of the Pakistani community for gracing us tonight. Our aim is to bring together the Sindhi community residing in Saudi Arabia on one platform and to showcase our soft image among the regional and international communities,” Qazi said.
The event ended with a sumptuous dinner followed by a musical program.
ICSF member Salman captivated the audience with some famous Sindhi and Pakistani tracks that finally ended with the Sindhi folk “Ho-Jamalo”.
