Fans of ‘90s pop music might remember Fringe Benefits, a band that gained popularity with songs like ‘Tanhai’ and ‘Pyar Diyan Gallan’. In recent years, the group’s vocalist, Shehryar Kureshi, has been busy with a very different project: helping street animals.
He has opened his own rented home to rescued animals, providing shelter to dozens of creatures in need, including 23 cats, three dogs, and even a crow. Plus, he goes out every afternoon to feed around 50 to 60 street cats in Rawalpindi. “The reason I have dedicated my life to helping animals so much is because there are already so many people dedicated to hurting them,” he says.
Shehryar explains that he wasn’t “inspired” but “compelled” to initiate the animal welfare organization People’s Animal Care Trust (PACT) in 2009 after being affected by the terrible condition of animals, especially stray cats and dogs. “The behaviour of the majority of the people in our society is extremely cruel towards these poor souls,” he bemoans. “People are completely unaware and ignorant when it comes to animal rights. There is a plethora of human welfare and development NGOs here in Pakistan, but animal welfare NGOs are scarce in number.”
The teachings of Islam also influenced him to show kindness towards animals. “Our Holy Book, Quran, has several verses which teach us to be kind and merciful towards other living beings, as Allah loves such persons, and even the Sunnah of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) also motivates us to show kindness and mercy to animals,” he says. “Sadly our clerics talk about everything in their sermons except acts of kindness towards animals according to Islam.”
Shehryar prides himself in being a “messiah for animals”, and aims to bring up more change with his organization. “We hope to construct a proper animal shelter along with a 24/7, state of the art hospital facility with a qualified vet,” he explains. “We also want there to be a task force to prevent animal abuse and to reinforce the implementation of the laws against animal cruelty.”
As for his music career, Shehryar says he misses the ‘90s golden era of Pakistani music, but he is still active on this front (his new songs are on his YouTube channel) as well as training a choir and teaching music, trying to impart his knowledge to youngsters.
His main focus, though, remains on PACT. The organization has been running with the help of donations from generous patrons, and Shehryar has also been spending a portion of his own salary to foot the food and medical costs of his rescues. He hopes the Us Magazine readers will help spread the word about PACT and will also choose to treat animals will kindness. “Animals are just like us,” he says. “Just because they don’t talk like us doesn’t mean they don’t feel like us.” He also wishes parents will encourage children to love animals and feel empathy towards them instead of being scared of them “No animal will harm you until they feel threatened,” he continues. “Raising awareness is the best way forward.”
