ANWAR Akmal Khan, founder president of OBAT Helpers, a US-based welfare organization that is helping the stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh, said that the condition of the stranded Pakistanis in the Bangladeshi camps is deteriorating day by day. Khan was on an Umrah visit to the Kingdom after concluding a three-week visit to Bangladesh, where he visited the camps in Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Rangpur, Syedpur, Mymensingh, Narayanganj and Gayabandah. Speaking to Saudi Gazette, he described the condition of what he called the ‘most forgotten people of the world'. “They (stranded Pakistanis) are living a life that we can never imagine,” he said. There are 66 camps comprising of 250,000 Pakistanis living in Bangladesh whose identity was denied after the fall of Dhaka. In 1971, around 180,000 stranded Pakistanis were repatriated to Pakistan under the Simla Agreement. Khan said that around 13,000 NGOs are working in Bangladesh, and that, hardly five NGOs are working in the camps. “If their repatriation is denied by Pakistan and their human rights are denied by Bangladesh, then, at least the NGOs should come forward to help them,” he said. With this thought, he went on to establish his organization - OBAT Helpers - and got it registered in the US in 2004 as a formal welfare organization, which later was registered in Bangladesh with the assistance of the US Embassy in that country. “I learnt about the sufferings of the stranded Pakistanis from the PRC (Pakistan Repatriation Council) chairman, Ehteshamuddin Arshad, in a meeting in Chicago in 2003, and that's when I decided to extend my assistance to them,” said Khan. He said that the embassy guided him in connecting with established NGOs in Bangladesh. “After careful considerations, two local NGOs were chosen as partners in the aid program for the camps,” Khan said. OBAT Helpers presently focuses its efforts on 24 camps in 6 different cities in Bangladesh. Its services include: education, self-empowerment, healthcare, drinking water, and relief programs. Khan said the Pakistani High Commissioner in Dhaka should play a role in “attracting charity organizations to help the forgotten and desperate Pakistanis in the camps”. “Though there are famous welfare organizations, such as, the Eidhi Trust, Al-Khidmat, etc., none of these are of much help to the stranded Pakistanis,” he said. He said the organizations that are working in camps should work in coordination with each other to avoid any duplication or conflict, and that the PRC and the SPGRC (Stranded Pakistanis General Repatriation Committee) should play a vital role. “OBAT has established several schools, healthcare centers and has offered loans for trade on the basis of the self-empowerment (micro-finance) policy which has provided many jobs and has made hundreds of families self-sufficient,” Khan said. He said that last year, OBAT contributed about a “quarter million dollars for its activities in the camps.” Commenting on the issue of a court ruling regarding the stranded Pakistanis, who were born after 1971 and qualified for the Bangladeshi citizenship, he said that it is not clear what type of facilities they are getting. “The governments of Pakistan and Bangladesh should jointly conduct a survey to determine the percentage of people who would choose to let the Rabita Trust finance their housing, etc. The PRC proposal of self-finance on the basis of employment in the Gulf as a means to provide funds for the settlement of the stranded Pakistanis is feasible, and the government should consider it. Moreover, the PRC's proposal to include Bangladesh is valid,” he added. Khan appealed to one and all to join his organization to help the stranded Pakistanis. “OBAT Helpers is the only NGO working on different programs exclusively in the camps to restore the dignity and hopes of the stranded Pakistanis by assisting them in moving from liabilities to assets,” he said. The other OBAT board members include: Dr Aisha Zafar, vice president; Sandra Noe, secretary; Carleen Miller, treasurer; and directors Lennie Myars, Shariq Siddiqui, Dr Ibad Ansari and Afshan Khan.
