Imran Khan, MKRF raise over 1 lakh pounds for Pak flood victims

LONDON - Imran Khan Flood Relief (IKFR), UK, held a very successful charity dinner in East London in conjunction with a TV channel and Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman Foundation (MKRF), raising funds to the tune of 1,05,000 pounds for Pakistan flood victims.

At the dinner, which was sold out with more than 600 guests attending, Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman, Imran Khan, gave an overview of what IKFR was doing in the short, medium and long term for the flood victims in Pakistan, The News reported.

He said that the IKFR had presently provided immediate relief to the flood victims by sending trucks full of food and medicines to 35,000 families, while 55,000 families had been helped through medical relief centers set up for the purpose.

To prevent food shortages next year, the IKFR was providing seeds to 200,000 farmers in time for the next harvest, he added.

Imran then went on to describe the model villages that IKFR was building, which would include houses, proper sewerage, water and electric supply lines, roads, a medical centre, a community centre, a school and other amenities as well as seed and livestock for the families.

IKFR planned to build approximately 100 model villages based on impartial selection through a ballot, he stated, adding that a village, which could comprise 200 to 1200 homes depending on the size of the community, would cost approximately 500,000 pounds.

He explained that people all over the world could participate in this effort by ‘adopting a village’ as part of the reconstruction/rehabilitation phase, adding that his organization was also working with Google Pakistan to avail the technology that would enable people to see the progress of each village.

The Pakistan government had been ineffective as it had not been able to cope with the current scale of the disaster, and even until now the government did not seem to know what was required across Pakistan for the flood victims, Imran claimed.

The speech was followed by a short ‘question and answer’ session, and an auction in which Imran fully participated. The evening ended with a raffle and entertainment by artist Qasim.

The “worst floods in Pakistan’s history”, triggered by torrential monsoon downpours in July, have claimed the lives of over 1,600 people and disrupted the lives of 20 million people, eight percent of the population. (ANI)