No need for NGOs in future as state to fulfil its responsibilities in Naya Pakistan: governor

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail expressed the hope on Saturday that in the next few years, NGOs would not be required to provide health and education in Pakistan as state would be fulfilling its responsibilities and adding urged the national and multinational companies to contribute for the organizations working for promoting literacy in the country.

“NGOs are only required when state fails to deliver and provide basic health and education facilities, but in the near future, NGOs will not be required in Pakistan as the state will be fulfilling its responsibilities regarding the provision of health and education to its people,” he said while speaking at the annual fundraising event of Baithak School Network at a hotel in Karachi.

Millions of rupees were pledged by local philanthropists and overseas Pakistanis living in the United States and Canada for establishing more schools in the Gwadar and Jiwani areas of Balochistan as well as in the Lyari town of Karachi, as the Baithak School Network pledged to open its branches in the two coastal towns of Balochistan and Lyari in the months ahead.

Praising philanthropists for pledging millions of rupees in donation for welfare activities and philanthropy, the governor deplored that despite being the number-one nation in giving donations for charitable causes, Pakistanis did not believe in giving taxes to the government because they did not have trust in the government and the authorities for justified use of their money.

“The day this trust deficit ends and you are convinced that the money you are giving to the state will be utilized properly on the welfare of people, tax collection in Pakistan will improve,” he said and lauded the Baithak School Network for extending their network of schools to Balochistan and Lyari, which were the most underprivileged parts of the country.

Speaking about the dream for Naya Pakistan, the governor said they spent 23 years chasing a dream although people discouraged them. He added that unfortunately it was hard to understand the success of those who realised dream after years of struggle.

“As a nation, we have been left far behind; perhaps, we didn’t get the right leadership to guide us to a better place among the comity of nations. Pakistan was on the rise after its creation till the early 70s, but later our decline started and now nobody trusts us in the world. But that dark era has ended and now Pakistan is a rising star and in the days to come we would have some economic problems, but Pakistan would come out of difficult days.”

Ismail urged the nation to trust the leadership voted into power by them, saying Imran Khan is the most honest leadership available in Pakistan today, who, he said, was working hard day and night to improve the fate of the country and put the nation out of this dark era.

On the occasion, he also pledged financial support for the Baithak School Network and said he would urge local and multinational companies which were earning profits in Pakistan to spend some of the of the money earned to support such organisations that were striving for the promotion of literacy in Pakistan.

Chairman BSN Advisory Board Syed Jamshaid Ahmed said there were over 250 million children out of school in Pakistan, especially in Baloshistan, but from now onwards, the focus of the BSN was on spreading its network to remote areas of Balochistan to make it a hundred percent literate province in the next few years.

“At the moment, we are running three schools in Jiwani and Gwadar towns of the Balochistan, but within the next few years, the number of schools run by the Baithak School Network would be enhanced to 40 and very soon, we would be realising our dream of making Balochistan a hundred percent literate province,” Syed Jamshaid Ahmed maintained.

Senator Sana Jamali from Balochistan said Pakistan’s progress was linked with the progress of Balochistan and expressed delight to learn that an organisation was striving to promote literacy in the most underdeveloped province of Pakistan.

MPA Abdur Rahseed said Balochistan and Lyari shared the cultural values but unfortunately, they were the most neglected areas of Pakistan where there were no facilities of education for children but hoped that by 2040 he had a vision to transform Lyari into one of the most educated places in Pakistan.

President BSN Zainab Asif, Amir Salman, Shaukat Hussain and representatives of overseas Pakistanis also addressed the gathering, while a large number of philanthropists, Chief Executive Officer Indus Hospital

Network Dr Abdul Bari

Khan and others were also present.