Lord Zameer donates Rs219m for flood victims

LONDON/KARACHI/WASHINGTON: Pakistan’s leading foreign investor Bestway Group has announced to donate $1.0 million (Rs219 million) to help flood-affected Pakistanis. Lord Zameer Choudrey told Geo and The News that the donation has been made to help the people of Pakistan.

The Bestway Group CEO Lord Zameer Choudrey said, “On behalf of our founder and Chairman Sir Anwar Pervez, OBE, let me reassure the people of Pakistan — the Bestway Group stands with them in this hour of unprecedented national tragedy.”

Lord Zameer Choudrey, who is Chairman of the Conservative Friends of Pakistan, said, “As part of our two-pronged strategy, we are actively providing immediate relief, and by working in partnership with local businesses and financial institutions, we are putting in place long-term sustainable measures so that we can rehabilitate the masses effected by this national tragedy”.

In addition, in the United Kingdom, Bestway Group has launched a fundraising campaign through the country’s largest independent wholesale and retail network, to compliment these measures, he said.

Lord Choudrey announced that the Bestway Group will be organising a fundraising dinner on the 23rd of September 2022 at a Central London venue with over 500 people expected to attend.

In Pakistan, Bestway Group subsidiaries, Bestway Cement Limited and United Bank Limited have set up dedicated medical camps and are distributing food parcels, cooked meals and providing vital banking facilities across the flood-affected areas, he shared.

Lord Choudrey acknowledged the contribution of the Group’s employees in providing these vital services during these unprecedented times and said, “None of this would have been possible without our employees who have played and continue to play a pivotal role in these challenging circumstances and worked tirelessly to ensure we are servicing our local communities. The health and safety of our employees is of paramount importance, and we are providing all necessary facilities and support to ensure that they remain safe and well. I am extremely proud of how they have come together in the face of adversity”.

Lord Zameer Choudrey said the Bestway Group has to-date donated in excess of $22.0 million to the health and education sectors in Pakistan. He said, “During the recent Covid pandemic, the Group donated substantial sums to aid the relief activities. In August 2022, the Bestway Foundation has renewed a long-standing relationship with the University of Bradford by gifting almost half a million pounds to support Master’s scholarships for Pakistani students until 2028.”

This month will witness the beginning of the £1.0 million Lord Choudrey Scholarship at the University of Cambridge. Lord Choudrey has played an instrumental role in the establishment of dedicated scholarship for Pakistani students at world class universities of Bradford, Oxford, Kent and Cambridge. As the Chairman of the Conservative Friends of Pakistan, whilst acknowledging and appreciating UK government’s unrelenting support to the people of Pakistan in times of need, Lord Choudrey has been leading efforts to increase the British government’s financial commitment to Pakistan.

Meanwhile, 35 flights carrying relief items have landed in Pakistan so far, to help flood-affected people in the country. These include 14 flights from the United Arab Emirates, 11 from Turkiye, four from China, three from Qatar, and one each from Uzbekistan, France and UN International Children’s Emergency Fund.

The flights contained relief items, including tents, food and medical supplies. Earlier, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Charge d’Affaires of the United Arab Emirates and discussed matters of mutual interest.

On behalf of the Pakistani nation, the prime minister thanked the government of the United Arab Emirates for sending planeloads of goods for the flood affected people.

He thanked President UAE Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan for sending relief goods worth $50 million and also thanked Prime Minister of UAE Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum for providing aid of 50 million Emirati Dirham.

The PM said the United Arab Emirates stood with Pakistan in every hour of need and always supported Pakistan on the diplomatic front and on issues of foreign affairs. Pakistan valued its relations with the United Arab Emirates, he added.

Meanwhile, an American newspaper has urged the international community to step up financial support to Pakistan where record-breaking floods have killed more than 1,300 people and displaced 33 million, as it highlighted the threat of climate change.

“Pakistan needs immediate help to recover from this disaster,” The Chicago Tribune said in an editorial, a day after Pakistani Ambassador to the US Masood Khan briefed the daily’’s Editorial Board during his recent visit to Chicago, known as the ‘’windy city.

“Given that Pakistan’s estimated losses are $10 billion and counting, the international community will need to commit much more, and the US and China, two of the world’s leading contributors to global warming, should position themselves at the vanguard of that effort,” the Tribune said.

Pointing to the Biden administration committing $30 million in humanitarian assistance to Pakistan and the launching of an appeal by the UN

for $160 million in emergency aid to help the country cope with what Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called “a monsoon on steroids,” the editorial said the international community needs to do much more.

Ambassador Masood Khan told the Board that one-third of Pakistan is under water, pointing out that the square mileage submerged is “equivalent to Colorado’s territory,” as he underscored the “massive impact” of the floods. “It’s a direct consequence or impact of climate change,” the Pakistani envoy said. Pakistan is one of the world’s most vulnerable nations to the devastating impact of climate change, the editorial said.

And yet, it emits less than 1 percent of the planet’s greenhouse gases, making it one of the smallest contributors to global warming, it added.

“There has to be collaboration and a deeper understanding between the developed and developing countries the ones most affected and the ones that are the biggest emitters,” Masood Khan added.

“We should try to find solutions which would protect and remedy and save the planet from annihilation. “The Tribune said that the Pakistani envoy’’s remarks “are far from hyperbole”.

The editorial pointed to important UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report released earlier this year, and highlighted its “most startling findings: It’s the developing world that’s bearing the brunt of climate change’s harshest fallout” between 2010 and 2020, 15 times as many people in developing countries were killed by droughts, floods and storms than in the world’s wealthiest nations.

At the Glasgow climate conference in 2021, 197 countries agreed to cuts in carbon dioxide emissions that should keep rises in global temperature to within 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, the editorial said, adding, “Too often, global pacts are hailed as milestones in international cooperation” and then ignored when it comes time for implementation.

“With climate change, the world’s nations, particularly its wealthiest countries, cannot risk putting off acting on long-term solutions for the sake of short-term needs. Fighting climate change has become an immediate, urgent need. “Today it is Pakistan”, the Pakistani envoy told the Board, “But it could be any other country in the world.