*Shahbaz announces a vigorous fund raising campaign for IDPs
All-out help will be provided to internally displaced persons (IDPs) of North Waziristan and they will not be left alone in the hour of need, said
Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Shahbaz Sharif while presiding over a meeting of the steering committee set up for the IDPs on Friday.
The CM said that the Punjab government has decided to provide cash to the IDPs and arrangements have been completed in this regard. The CM announced to launch a vigorous fund raising campaign for the IDPs and said that help to the distressed Pakhtun people is a national, religious and moral obligation. He said that the government and the people of Punjab will not rest content till complete rehabilitation of the displaced people.
The meeting reviewed the process of provision of financial assistance to the displaced persons of North Waziristan. The CM said that help and assistance to the affectees of North Waziristan is a form of worship and every member of the society should play his role in this noble cause.
He said that the Punjab government has already sent 70 trucks carrying relief items worth millions of rupees for the displaced persons. He said that the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for IDPs has also been set up and the Punjab government has deposited a sum of Rs 500 million while assembly members of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have donated their one month’s salary to this fund.
Shahbaz said that philanthropists and well-to-do people should donate generously to the fund and assured that every penny of their donations will reach the deserving persons.
The CM also gave approval to the launching of a vigorous fund raising campaign for the IDPs and said that overseas Pakistanis, industrialists, traders, affluent persons and Chambers of Commerce and Industry should be contacted for this purpose. He also constituted a committee headed by Provincial Assembly Member Manshaullah Butt for contacting overseas Pakistanis and directed that the committee should work hard for collecting maximum funds for the IDPs.
