Lest one forget: Donations drive planned to be organised for IDPs

Evenement will be holding the drive in cooperation with CDRS.

LAHORE:

Evenement Business and Communication Head Mashal Peerzada said on Saturday that a nation was defined by how it treated the dispossessed segments of its society.

Evenement will be collaborating with Comprehensive Disaster Response Services (CDRS) and Forman Christian College Senior Biology Society to hold a donation drive titled People for People on Monday for the benefit of internally displaced persons (IDPs).

The drive will feature collection points for food, hygiene and household items, monetary donations, miscellaneous items and items for children. A number of celebrities, humanitarian activists and aid workers will be giving inspirational talks during it.

Peerzada said the initiative was being undertaken to integrate the displaced people into the national mainstream. Peerzada said people should not forget their responsibility towards fellow citizens despite the political impasse.

Speaking to The Express Tribune Sanam Taseer, a gallery proprietor, said people should not forget the IDPs despite the political stalemate. She said people should not forget that Pakistan was involved in a real war with real victims.  Taseer said the drive aimed to bring the plight of the displaced people into the limelight.

Zara Peerzada, a model, said she was taking part in the drive because she had always strived to support, speak and donate to causes she believed in despite the political situation. She said she felt that the plight of the IDPs had been relegated to the background of national consciousness. Peerzada said the drive was aimed at correcting it. She said she would be giving a speech at the event. Peerzada said she had agreed to take part in the initiative to create awareness about the plight of the IDPs. She said her family and friends had extended their support to the initiative wholeheartedly.

Juggan Kazim, an actor, said that the number of displaced people was nearly one million. She said many of them were children. Kazim said it was important not to lose focus and join hands for their welfare.

Jalal Hussain, a founding member of Zimmedar Shehri, said the IDPs had sacrificed their lives and livelihoods in the war against terrorism for the future of Pakistan. He said it was time now for the people of Pakistan to look after them. Hussain said they should be provided with food, shelter and clothing.  He said they should be provided with access to potable water and their children’s education should be subsidised. Hussain said it was imperative to ensure that they were completely rehabilitated.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, CDRS founder Todd Shea said it had been operating   mobile medical camps since July 6 in IDP camps.  He said it had also been operating a children’s ward in Bannu Women and Children Teaching Hospital and a rural health centre in Ghori Wala. Shea said CDRS had treated and provided free medicines to 20,000 patients in eight weeks.  He said half of them were IDPs while the others were affected people. Shea said they had been victims of the emergency and Pakistan should not forget their plight.  He said the CDRS had been cooperating with Imran Khan Foundation, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department, UK Medical Aid, Aman Foundation and Karachi Relief Trust to provide the displaced people with medicines, mosquito nets and water filters.  Shea said it had distributed food, hygiene kits and toys among IDPs with the cooperation of Global Disaster Relief Organisation.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2014.