TWO separate events in Jeddah and Riyadh were organized by the Pakistan Repatriation Council (PRC) and the Friends of Stranded Pakistanis (FOSP), respectively, to mark the anniversary of the fall of Dhaka which took place on Dec. 16, 1971, and to remember the country's martyrs. In Jeddah, Naseem Sehar, poet and writer, paid tribute to the “heroes of the 1971 war who laid down their lives to protect the integrity and solidarity of the country.” He praised the patriotism of the stranded Pakistanis, who have been living in Bangladesh for the past 37 years. Syed Riaz Bukhari, president of Pakistan Peoples Community – Saudi Arabia, said the government of Pakistan should try to solve the issue of stranded Pakistanis. “President Zardari should restart the process of repatriation of Pakistanis,” he said. Prof. Waseem Shahid and Maqboolur Rahman Abbasi of the Pakistan Journalists Forum, Engr. Azeez Ahmed of Pakistan Engineers Society, Ghulam Nabi Butt of the Jammu Kashmir Community, Tariq Mahmood, and Ateequr Rahman of Mohibbane Pakistan, also spoke on the occasion. Convener Ehsanul Haque thanked the gathering for supporting the cause of the stranded Pakistanis, saying: “The fall of East Pakistan was a lesson for everyone.” Resolutions passed at the meet urged that the repatriation process be based on the PRC proposal of a self-finance scheme, and that India and Pakistan should work together against terrorism. The proceedings of the event were conducted by writer and journalist, Syed Musarrat Khalil, recitation of the Holy Qur'an by Qari Abullah Abdul Majeed and Naat by Sher Afzal. Habib Siddiqui, Naseem Sehar, Abdul Qayyum Waseq, Syed Mohsin Alavi, Zumarad Saifi, and Gule Anwar paid poetic tributes to the stranded Pakistanis. In Riyadh, at a similar symposium, Faiz Al-Najdi, coordinator of FOSP, said that the day when East Pakistan became Bangladesh denoted the darkest day in the history of Pakistan. “Three generations of stranded Pakistanis have suffered and continue to suffer. Chief Guest Engr. Arif Mirza, a Pakistani businessman and an FOSP executive member, lamented the indifference shown by the successive governments of Pakistan towards this issue. “Highly educated and skilled people of Pakistan can be a resource for our country and for the Middle East,” said Aziz Khan of Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), highlighting the proposed self-finance scheme. In a telephonic address, Sameera Aziz, Saudi Gazette Editor and Incharge of Awaz, and Ehtesham Uddin Arshad, chairman of PRC – International, who was speaking from Chicago, lent their support to the cause of the stranded Pakistanis. Engr. Nehal Uddin, Engr. Shafiq Maitla, Choudhry Akram of the Awami Forum, Hafiz Abdul Waheed, Rana Khadim Hussain of the PML-N, Saudi Arabia, Choudhry Bashir Ahmed, Asghar Qureshi, chief coordinator of PPP-KSA, Rana Khalid, vice president and Riaz Rathore, president of PPP-Riyadh, spoke at the program. The program commenced with the recitation of the Holy Qur'an by Engr. Rana Rauf, president of the Majlis-e
