Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

A series of events to mark Eid-al Adha have been held with the support of Azerbaijani First Lady, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, UNESCO and ISESCO goodwill ambassador Mehriban Aliyeva in Faizabad, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, and Lahor in the Pakistani Panjab province and earthquake-affected Balochistan province.

According to the Azerbaijani embassy in Pakistan, the event, organized at the 400-seat orphanage Anjuman Faiz ul Islam in Faizabad, brought together chairman of the Pakistani Senate committee on national health services, regulations and coordination Zafar Ali Shah, senators Saeeda Iqbal, Nuzhat Sadiq, Najma Hameed, as well as MP of the National Assembly Tahira Aurangzeb, head of the Pakistani Senate administration Iftikhar Ullah Babar, president of the Anjuman Faiz ul Islam Mian Siddique Akbar, senior vice president Aziz Hashmi, intellectuals, public and political figures, and journalists.

Addressing the event, Azerbaijan's ambassador to Pakistan Dashgin Shikarov congratulated the event participants on Eid al-Adha on behalf of First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva. Shikarov provided an insight into successful projects implemented by Aliyeva in Azerbaijan and abroad.

"As part of the humanitarian assistance program for Pakistan, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation had a girls` school built and later reconstructed in Kashmir's city of Muzaffarabad in 2012. In addition, at the initiative and with the support of Mehriban Aliyeva, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation funded a vaccination campaign against hepatitis B in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, organized examinations of cerebral palsy, open heart surgery in clinics located in the same province, blood transfusion in the districts along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, and provided financial assistance for the construction of an eye care clinic, animal sacrifice in 2012 in the tribal areas, Panjab province, and arranged Iftar parties for orphans in all provinces of Pakistan on the occasion of the Ramadan in 2012-2013," Shikarov said.

Senators Zafar Ali Shah and Saeeda Iqbal, as well as President of the Anjuman Faiz ul Islam Mian Siddique Akbar expressed gratitude to the Azerbaijani First Lady for her attention to the Pakistani people.

The speakers said the care of Azerbaijan`s First Lady for the orphans indicates her humanity, commitment to Islamic values and contribution to developing relations between the two nations.

The Pakistani Senate's Iftikhar Ullah Babar said he visited Azerbaijan on election day, October 9, noting that the presidential election was democratic, free and transparent, and President Ilham Aliyev was re-elected as head of state with 85 percent of votes.

He also praised the economic reforms in Azerbaijan and projects implemented by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation both in the country and abroad. Children at Anjuman Faiz ul Islam were presented with keepsakes on behalf of Mehriban Aliyeva.

Addressing the event, organized at SOS Village, president of the Azerbaijan-Pakistan Foundation, Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy alumnus Chaudhry Nauman Zafar hailed the relations between the two countries as fraternal.

During the ceremony, organized at the Dera Murad Jamali city, Balochistan province, chairman of the Balochistan parliament Mir Jan Jamali hailed the initiative of the Azerbaijani First Lady, stressing the importance of organizing it in this economically underdeveloped province, which has suffered from earthquakes and terror attacks.

"This is vivid evidence of friendship and brotherhood," he said.

A total of 200 cows and sheep were sacrificed during the events in Pakistan.

The Heydar Aliyev Foundation started its activity in Pakistan after the earthquake in 2005, when an initiative was launched to build a new modern school for girls in lieu of the destroyed one in Muzaffarabad. The 500-pupil school was built in a mountainous area by 2007.

The foundation regularly provides the school with all necessary means and pays out monthly scholarships to five deserving students of the school. After complete reconstruction and renovation in 2012, the school was named after the First Lady of Azerbaijan.

In 2012 and 2013, Aliyeva initiated a series of healthcare, education and humanitarian projects throughout the provinces of Pakistan.

The foundation also took part in celebrations of World Blood Donor Day in Peshawar. Aliyeva donated one fully equipped ambulance and thousands of blood collection bags to Hamza Foundation, which deals with safe blood transfusion to the beneficiaries on both sides of the Durand Line on voluntary basis.

During the holy month of Ramazan in 2012 and 2013, the foundation hosted iftar dinners to beneficiaries of Pakistan Sweet Home (Pakistan Baitulmal) in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Larkana, Nawabshah, Quetta, Zhob and Peshawar, and Edhi Homes beneficiaries in Islamabad.