Pakistan Association of Australia celebrates Pakistan Day Function in Hurstville Sydney

PAA celebrated Pakistan day function in a fascinating fashion on 27 March 2010 at Hurtsville Auditorium Marana Hall Sydney. Approximately 550 people from the Australian Pakistani community attended this function along with prominent Pakistanis and Australian diplomatic dignitaries. Prominent amongst were the High Commissioner of Pakistan Her Excellency Fauzia Nasreen as the chief guest. Hon. Shaoquett Moselmane MLC represented Premier NSW Hon. Kristy Kelly. Hon. Julie Owens Federal Member for Parramatta, Hon. Lynda Voltz MLC and Stephan Kriksharian Chairman Community Relation Commission, Azam Mohammed Counsel General of Pakistan and Counselor Hamid Asghar along with Nadeem Jaffer Country Manager of PIA were special guests of honor.

The Vice President of PAA Umar Ghani was the MC of the night. The evening started with a recitation from the Holy Quran by Maulana Thanvi, followed by the Australian and Pakistan national anthems. The function formerly commenced with the a presentation made by Kashif Amjad on the concept of the community centre in Sydney, and requested the Honourable High Commissioner of Pakistan for her support in regards to its funding. The President of PAA Iftikhar Rana formally welcomed the chief guest along with other distinguished dignitaries and the community members. He narrated the events and sacrifices which were made by the Muslims of the all India under the guidance of Quid Azam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who made the dream come true for a separate home land for the all India Muslims. This was how Pakistan came into existence. He further emphasized that now it is the duty of every patriotic Pakistani to see that our beloved motherland Pakistan progressed and prospered. Mr. Iftikhar Rana further reiterated that the Australian Pakistani community is very happy to see their beloved country back on to track of democracy and the institutions are in place.

He said democracy is the only answer to our long standing problems of Pakistan. Mr. Rana lashed out to the Terrorists and religious zelots, who by their suicide bombings in Pakistan not only have damaged their own society but also have brought bad name in the comity of nations. And for this reason every Muslim is seen with suspicion in Australia and elsewhere. He promised that the PAA will play positive role in dispelling this image of Pakistanis in Australia. All participants thereafter condemned the recent bombings in Lahore and Quetta and the august house observed one minute silence in respect of the innocent people killed in his tragedy.

President Iftikhar Rana while addressing, highlighted the salient features for the establishment of Community centre. The role of PAA in promoting good relationship with Australian and other communities was also high lighted and the participants were informed that PAA also holds national events in Parliament House to promote greater understanding between the Pakistani community and the Parliamentarians.

He proudly announced that it has been privilege of PAA to hold 4 Eid related functions in the Parliament in his tenure as the President of PAA. Mr. Iftikhar Rana said that this is the reason today the Pakistan community has friends in the local, state and federal governments who understand well enough the Australian Pakistani community.

Hon Shaoquett Moselmane congratulated Australian Pakistan community on Pakistan Day. He observed that this function was also attended by various other communities which he said shows multiculturalism.
He praised PAA efforts for the establishment of the community centre, which he said will bring different communities closer and strengthen relations with other communities living side by side in Australia.

Hon. Julie Owns thanked the Pakistani community support in her election and congratulated the community on Pakistan day.

Mr. Stephan Kriksharian chairman of CRC was delighted to be the guest in PAA function and praised the efforts of PAA to promote peace and harmony in the community and congratulated the community on Pakistan Day. He expressed to build a community centre for the betterment of the community.

Chief Guest Ms Fauzia Nasreen addressing the audience congratulated the Australian Pakistani community for their tremendous role to build up good relations between Australia and Pakistan and thanked the community for its assistance of representing Pakistan as the modern and tolerant nation.

The evening followed the presentation of community awards of appreciations to those Australian Pakistanis who performed outstanding jobs to build our community profile. The first Community award was given to Consulate General Azam Mohammad for his outstanding services to the Pakistani community and building image of Pakistan in other communities. Mr. Muhammad Asif CEO was awarded in recognition of his services for formerly Habib Finance & currently Citilink in promoting the official banking channels for Pakistani community. Moreover, Remittances sent through Citilink Finance earn foreign exchange for the country. The awards for best academic performers went to Zidan Umer Khan from Grammar College in Minto NSW who at the age of 8 years has the highest performance for the year 2008-2009.

Syed Zafar Hussain Shah was awarded for his services in journalism and issuing the best online community newspaper Sada-e-Watan. Rabitah magazine was also awarded for publishing a Pakistani community magazine. Umar Ghani was awarded for his outstanding services in organizational skills for the year 2009.

President Iftikhar Rana said that the PAA will recognize each year those people in the community who have outstanding performance in the field of education. Dinner was served by Khan Baba a Pakistani restaurant in Auburn. PAA congratulates Kamran Khan for the sumptuous dinner and the excellent service provided by his team.

Entertainment was presented by the Jazba band. Their performance was highly appreciated by the guests. In the end President Iftikhar Rana thanked all the community and sponsors for making Pakistan day a successful event, and the distinguished guests for their participation.

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