Members of the Pakistani community break their fast at the Iftar party hosted by RAF and MoI at Al Arabi stadium yesterday. Abdul Basit

By MOHAMMAD SHOEOB

People listened to Moulana Thanvi’s speech on the importance of the month of Ramadan and fasting. Mualana Thanvi, a prominent Pakistani cleric was especially flown in from Karachi by the Embassy of Pakistan to Qatar to address the Pakistani community at the Iftar.

The event was the first of a series of Iftar and brotherhood programmes the RAF in collaboration with the Ministry of Interior will continue to organise involving about 12,000 people for 11 expatriate communities during the holy month.

The event was open to all members of the respective communities including non-Muslims.

Talking to The Peninsula Malik Muhammad Farooq, Deputy Head of Mission of the Pakistan Embassy said that the Pakistani community members overwhelmingly participated in the grand-scale event surpassing their expectations.

The five-hour programme started with a documentary on traffic awareness followed by a presentation in Urdu on the same topic which was presented by Faisal Al Hudawi, representing Public Relations Department of the Ministry of Interior.  

Also present were Muhammad Sarfaraz Khanzada, Ambassador of Pakistan to Qatar, Habeeb Sheikh, Head of Pakistan community in Qatar and many other guests.

Moulana Thanvi’s enlightening speech began just after the Maghrib prayer which continued for more than an hour. It was followed by dinner and Isha prayer and Traweeh.  

The main objectives of these programmes are to showcase the brotherhood of the people of Qatar with expatriate communities here and strengthen relations and communication among members of the different expatriate communities which will help expatriates meet and get introduced to each other and solve their problems. It will also help organisers to find out the people who are really in need of support from them.

This year several new communities have been included in the project such as Pakistanis, South Africans, Djiboutians and Somalians.

Today (Friday) there will be separate gatherings for 1,000 members of the Bangladeshi community at Tariq bin Ziyad School and for 1,500 members from the Nepalese community at Al Arabi sports club. Another event for 1,700 members of the Sri Lankan community will take place at Tariq bin Ziyad School on July 28.

The project will conclude by hosting 750 members from the Filipino community at Abubacker Siddeeque School and 2,500 members from the Indian community at Al Arabi sports club on August 10.

The Peninsula