A series of events to mark Eid-al Adha has been held with support of First Lady of Azerbaijan, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, UNESCO and ISESCO goodwill ambassador Mehriban Aliyeva in Pakistani Panjab country`s Faizabad, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Lahor and earthquake-affected Balochistan provinces.
According to Azerbaijani embassy to Pakistan, the event, organized at the 400-seat orphanage Anjuman Faiz ul Islam in the Punjab region, Faizabad, brought together chairman of the Pakistani Senate committee on national health services, regulations and coordination Zafar Ali Shah, senators Saeeda Iqbal, Nuzhat Sadiq, Najma Hameed, as well as MP of National Assembly Tahira Aurangzeb, head of the Pakistani Senate administration Iftikhar Ullah Babar, president of the Anjuman Faiz ul Islam Mian Siddique Akbar, senior vice president Aziz Hashmi, intellectuals, public and political figures, and journalists.
Addressing the event, Azerbaijan`s ambassador to Pakistan Dashgin Shikarov congratulated the event participants on Eid al-Adha on behalf of First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva. The Ambassador provided an insight into successful projects implemented by Mehriban Aliyeva in Azerbaijan and foreign countries. “As part of the humanitarian assistance program to Pakistan, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation had a girls` school built and later reconstructed in Kashmir`s city of Muzaffarabad in 2012. In addition, at the initiative and support of Mehriban Aliyeva, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation funded a vaccination campaign against hepatitis B in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, organized examination of cerebral palsy, open heart surgery in clinics located in the same province, blood transfusion in the districts along Pakistan-Afghanistan border, provided financial assistance for construction of an eye clinic, animal sacrifice in 2012 in the Tribal areas, Panjab province and arranged Iftar parties for orphans in all provinces of Pakistan on the occasion of Ramadan in 2012-2013.”
Senators Zafar Ali Shah and Saeeda Iqbal, as well as President of the Anjuman Faiz ul Islam Mian Siddique Akbar expressed gratitude to the Azerbaijani First Lady, president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva for her attention to Pakistani people. The speakers said the attention shown by Azerbaijan`s First Lady to orphans testifies to her humanity, loyalty to Islamic values and contribution to developing relations between the two nations.
Head of the Pakistani Senate administration Iftikhar Ullah Babar said he visited Azerbaijan on the election day on October 9, noting the presidential election was democratic, free and transparent, and President Ilham Aliyev was re-elected as head of state with 85% of votes. He also praised economic reforms in Azerbaijan, and projects carried out by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation both in the country and abroad. Orphans at the Anjuman Faiz ul Islam were presented with keepsakes on behalf of Mehriban Aliyeva.
Addressing the event, organized at the SOS Village, president of the Azerbaijan-Pakistan Foundation, an Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy alumnus Chaudhry Nauman Zafar hailed relations between the two countries as brotherly.
In the ceremony, organized at the Dera Murad Jamali city, Balochistan province, chairman of the Balochistan parliament Mir Jan Jamali hailed the initiative of the Azerbaijani First Lady, stressing the importance of organizing it inthis economically weak province, which suffered from earthquake and terrorist attacks. “This is a vivid evidence of friendship and brotherhood.”
A total of 200 cows and sheep were sacrificed during the events in Pakistan.

AzerTAc