Mumtaz Hussain Khyal
MILAN (Italy): It was honour for the Pakistani community that famous Pakistani Qari, Syed Sadaqat Ali, was among with them at an Iftar dinner programme hosted by Pakistan Consulate General, Milan, Friday.
The Programme started at 18:45 with the national anthem, all participants stood up from their seats in its respect. After the national anthem, Qari Syed Sadaqat Ali started reciting from the Holy Quran and audience much appreciated his style of reciting and started praising him. There was a pin-drop silence in audience and all participants enjoyed listening to him. In addition, another UK based Pakistani famous poetess, Ms Mah Jabeen Ghazal Ansari recited few verses of her poetry and was highly appreciated by the audience.
Qari Syed Sadaqat Ali was invited again to ravel some of his experiences. He disclosed that we all people are here to listen to the Holy Quran, and it is the blessing of the Almighty Allah that we are here from the different parts of Italy. He said, that we should unite for a purpose that we are Muslim, and a Muslim cannot be a terrorist. Our first greeting is “Assalam-o-Alikum” that means “Peace be unto you”, and standard salutation among members of the nation of Islam. The greeting is routinely deployed whenever and wherever Muslims gathered and interacted, whether socially or within worship and other contexts. There is not any connection between religion and terrorism, and Islam is the religion of peace.
Consul General, Dr Manzoor Ahmed Chaudhry in his speech said that first time we have collected the data of our community members in Milan and from its twin cities. We are still gathering the data of our professionals, journalists, political workers, and putting into our database for further communications, and today, if we could not invite someone on this occasion or we missed some names, please do not take it negatively.
He continued, “We are updating our database. In addition, he said that I am making appointments with local police and Italian immigration officials and last month I visited to the university “Politecnico di Torino” on Pakistan Day celebrations. I met with university officials and they gave a clue that they are thinking to build its campus in Pakistan (Lahore). Moreover, I think it is a big news for our community members.”
Attaché Welfare, Dr Rizwan Salabat, performed as stage secretory. In his address, he said, “We all are Pakistanis and we are proud of you as overseas Pakistanis.
At the Iftar time, a wide range of Pakistani traditional food was served after which Qari Syed Sadaqat Ali led the Maghrib prayers.
Dr Manzoor Ahmed Chaudhry and all other staff members were very pleased to see the huge gathering and they thanked them all for gracing the occasion.