ISLAMABAD: The Muslim World League’s relief organization launched an emergency relief project on Saturday to help Pakistan's northern and Kashmir regions affected by extremely cold weather.
“Relief packages of 30 kilograms of food items along with warm blankets will be distributed among more than 2000 families. The project will benefit more than 7000 people in affected areas,” Saad Masood Al-Harsi, regional director of the World Relief, Care and Development Organization, said in Islamabad while launching the project.
Relief packages with food items and warm blankets for cold-affected areas of Pakistan are seen during the launching of the Muslim World League's relief program in Islamabad, Jan. 4, 2020. (AN Photo)
Almost entire Pakistan is struck by extreme weather, with a number of villages and towns in northern areas and Kashmir recording below-zero temperatures.
During the relief project's launch, Pakistani Religious Affairs Minister Noor-ul-Haq Qadri said Saudi Arabia has always been at the forefront in serving and helping the needy in Pakistan.
“Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoy time-tested brotherly relations, which have hit a new high due to Saudi Ambassador Nawaf bin Said Al-Malki's efforts,” Qadri said.
Ambassador Al-Malki said that Saudi Arabia has never left Pakistan alone in times of difficulty. “Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are deeply connected with each other through religious, cultural and historic ties,” he said.
Director general of the International Organization for Relief, Welfare and Development, Abdul Rehman Matar, who is on an official visit in Pakistan, said that through the Muslim World League, Saudi Arabia had spent hefty sums on relief work whenever its “Pakistani brothers faced disasters like floods and earthquakes.”
He added that the league is going to increase its aid efforts in Pakistan.
“I am visiting Pakistan on the directions of the secretary-general of the Muslim World League to expand the organization's operations in Pakistan,” he said.
