LAHORE: World renowned Pakistani artist, social crusader and peace activist Jimmy Engineer has reiterated he is genuinely proud of introducing walk culture and fun, food and awareness programmes for the special children in Pakistan.
He has also listed famous series of huge Pakistan Movement paintings and mural transforming great thinker and poet Allama Muhammad Iqbal’s Persian poetry collection “Javid Namah” as his major artistic achievements.
He said this while addressing a gathering of Pakistani and local communities members in Houston, USA, where he is spending some time with his elderly parents on the eve of his departure from there on yet another goodwill tour of Canada where he will be involved in many artistic and socio-cultural activities.
According to a message received here, Jimmy Engineer said that so far he has organised more than 160 awareness, fun and food programmes for physically handicapped, mentally retarded, deaf and dumb special children in Pakistan as well as in Sri Lanka and held about 100 walks, mostly solo, for various noble causes .
Responding to queries from the audience, Jimmy said that he had introduced the awareness, fun and food programmes for the special children mainly for creating awareness about them in the society particularly among the parents that merely calling mentally and physically handicapped children as the special children is not enough, they needed to be paid special attention also by those around them.
He said the special children are taken to posh hotels, restaurants, clubs in close cooperation of their managements, served sumptuous food , entertained to music and provided opportunities to display their hidden skills and talent in singing, dancing, music etc in free and different atmosphere away from their special education and training institutions for sometime at least.
Talking about 100 walks, mostly solo, Jimmy said that these included a 4,700-km long walk from Karachi to Khyber for creating awareness about the dire need for setting up of more and more mobile hospitals and dispensaries ensuring provision of better healthcare facilities to the people at their doorsteps in the rural and urban areas of the country and solo spiritual peace walk from Islamabad to New Delhi for promoting peace and normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan.
He said unfortunately the peace walk had to be discontinued on Wagah Border on this side of Pakistan due to sudden flaring up of tension between the two countries. He said in response to queries that he is still quite willing to undertake more walks for noble causes anywhere in the world besides Pakistan.