There are no two opinions that Pakistan is one of the most charitable countries in the world, and when it comes to giving, everybody gives to
the poor in the shape of Zakat, charity and in-kind donations.
Prime Minister’s Focal Person on Shelter Homes Naseem ur Rehman called this spirit a ma
jor driving force in running the affairs of ‘Panahgahs’ (shelter homes) that have served around 150,000 poor
people to this day by providing nutritious food and night stay in neat and clean settings.
Credit for the ‘Panahgahs’ programme goes to Prime Minister Imran Khan as he was the first leader in the country’s history who has taken multiple initiatives for improving living standards of the downtrodden segments of the society.
Naseem-ur-Rehman, in an exclusive chat with APP said that there were around 93 dedicated places and a large num
ber of Langar Khanas (food centers) across the country where
the poor
people including women, daily wage earners and old citizens were being offered free meal two times a day and night stay.
He said Rs 300 was being spent on each dweller every day, helping
the poor
people, especially migrant workers to save Rs 6,000 per month that obviously provided him an opportunity to directly spend the hard earned money on his family welfare.
Citing the example of the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad’s ‘Panahgahs’, he said 600
people were getting food and shelter at each shelter home, which manifested Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision of transforming the country into Madina-like state where all the citizens irrespective of their caste, religion, race and social status were treated equally.
He said once there was starvation, and helpless
people were forced to sleep on pavements and in public parks.
“Now I can say, in the long run, this Panagahs project will prove a remarkable initiative to alleviate poverty in an effective manner,” he maintained.
Explaining
the policy to ensure sustainability of
the programme, Naseem said it was providing an organized and strategic approach to the ‘giving’. It also makes the ‘giving’ a dignified process by keeping in mind respect and dignity of the receiver, he added.
“This is the first time in the history of Pakistan that a programme has come up which is trying to tap into the
people’s goodwill as well as the existing resources, and through this process, a major overlapping, wastage and duplications have been reduced,”
the prime minister’s focal person noted.
Now the country, he said,had a system which could help distribute the donations among
the poor in a more organized manner.
For instance, Naseem said the management had launched a free shuttle service to fa
cilitate daily wage earners for reaching the ‘Panahgahs’, located in the city’s outskirts. The move was meant to ensure optimum use of the resources, he added.
Before that initiative, he said occasionally
the poor
people ended up sleeping under open sky as they were unable to bear the travelling expenses to reach other shelter homes due to rush at the Panahgahs located at the central locations of the twin cities.
He said the initiative had been receiving tremendous response as the
people from all over the world were providing in-kind donations to the shelter homes programme.