Sada-e-Watan
Sydney ™
sadaewatan@gmail.com
H.E.Tim George & Minister Hon.Victor Dominello was Chief Guest at the Rabitah
International Fifth Anniversary Dinner in Sydney
(Coverage By: Syed Zafar Hussain,
Editor-in-Chief Sada-e-Watan Sydney)
His Excellency Mr.Tim George
A leading Sydney based quality bilingual (English/Urdu) ethnic community magazine Rabitah International celebrated its fifth anniversary on 20th May 2011. Federal and State Parliamentarians both from Labor and Liberal Party, Head of diplomatic missions, State government officials, businessmen, heads of the corporate bodies, Religious leaders of Islamic and Christian faiths and heads of the various community organizations of Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra attended the function. Some more prominent dignitaries who were in attendance included:
His Excellency Tim George High Commissioner of Australia to Pakistan,His Excellency Tasawar Khan, Acting High Commissioner of Pakistan to Australia, Hon.John Alexander (Representing leader of Opposition Hon. Tony Abbott),Hon. Victor DOMINELLO Minister for Citizenship and Communities, and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs,Hon. Peter Primrose MLC (Representing leader of Opposition Hon. John Robertson),Hon. Shaoquett Moselmane MLC,Hon. Antoine (Tony) Issa MP,Mr. Azam Mohammed, Consul General of Pakistan,Brigadier Zahoor Ahmed, Defence Advisor of Pakistan, and Chairman NSW Community Relations Commission, Stepan Kerkyasharian.
The ceremony was held at the ball room of Himalaya Restaurant in Granville, Sydney. The master of ceremony was Mr Kashif Amjad. He started function with a welcome note and briefed the purpose of the gathering. He said that Rabitah is a community magazine and presented some facts and figures regarding Rabitah International, its representation in South Asian communities in general and the Pakistani community in particular residing in Australia and New Zealand.
Mr Kashif Amjad added that it is a bimonthly magazine and we are proud to celebrate its 5th anniversary. At the moment the number of its readers exceeds 30,000. In 2009, he noted, on the strong demand of non-English readers it was made bilingual. It contains articles on socio- economic issues, politics, religion, multiculturalism, trade and investment, entertainment and current affairs.
Some of the dignitaries also conveyed their thoughts. These include Hon. Victor Dominello, Minister for Citizenship and Communities and Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, His Excellency Tim George, High Commissioner of Australia to Pakistan, His Excellency Tasawar Khan, Acting High Commissioner of Pakistan, Hon Shaoquett Moselmane MLC and Mr. Mohammad Ali, President Forum Australia and Advisor to Rabitah International.
The Minister spoke specifically about the policy of NSW Government’s headed by Hon. Premier Berry O’Ferral on Multiculturalism. Mr Victor appreciated the contribution of Rabitah in providing a bridge between various communities. His Excellency Tasawar Khan spoke about the efforts of Pakistani Government to combat the war on terrorism while His Excellency Tim George the, High Commissioner of Australia to Pakistan spoke about the courage and steadfastness of the Pakistani victims during the devastating flood in Pakistan. Mr Mohammed Ali, adviser to Rabitah International, spoke about the powerful role and effectiveness of such community publications in Australian multicultural society. He said that bringing communities closer is the great need of this time and Rabitah is effectively doing that. He emphasised the need to support publications like Rabitah both by government and common men.
Mr Munir Mohammad, CEO of
Sydney Forex, the biggest sponsor of the magazine, highlighted the sponsorship
and working of the commercial enterprise Sydney Forex. He said that his company
is engaged in sending money for his clients globally in all major currencies. At
present the company has 400,000 payout locations Worldwide, with specialisation
in sending money to Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Nepal. He further said that
his company was handling over $35 million per year, about 65% of the total
remittance business from Australia to Pakistan. Mr Mohammad emphasised that the
peculiarity of his company is that it does not charge any fee from the
customers. He praised the organising team of the magazine and promised to
support financially the valuable community work Rabitah International had
initiated five years ago, at a very limited scale at that time.
The series of speeches ended with a brief introduction by Mr. Babar Jamil,
Financial Executive of MCCA and the proud sponsor of the function, about his
company and the role it was playing in extending Islamic Finances in line with
Sharia guidelines. He pledged to continue MCCA support for the community
magazine in future.
After speeches, the community award ceremony was started. Hon Victor Dominello handed the community awards to Hon. Shaoquette Musalimane MLC and Mr Zawar Shah. His Excellency Tasawar Khan gave away the community awards to Ms Minu Sharma and Tahir Farooq. His Excellency Tim George gave away awards to Chaudhary Mushtaq and Mr Mohammed Ali. Special award were given by Hon. John Alexander, Federal Member of Parliament for Bennelong (Representing leader of Opposition Hon. Tony Abbott) to Hon Victor Dominello, Excellency Tim George and Excellency Tasawar Khan for promoting the relations between Australian and Pakistan.
Online Pakistani Newspaper Sada-e-Watan Sydney also Presents Shield to H.E.Tim George and Mr. Munir Mohammed. The Editor-in-Chief of Sada-e-Watan Syed Zafar Hussain and H.E. Tasawar Khan presents Shields during the Function. In his speech, The High Commissioner of Australia to Pakistan His Excellency Tim George appreciated the community services of Sada-e-Watan and said that he is regular reader of Sada-e-Watan and through Sada-e-Watan, he have a direct contact with the Pakistani community settled in Australia.
At the end Mr Kashif Amjad once again thanked to all the dignitaries and guest and requested them to enjoy the lavish dinner which was equally enjoyed by Pakistanis, Indian media editor, and Australians. After dinner there was an extended photographic session. Gifts were distributed in all participants. It was a memorable evening which ended with the vote of thanks by Mr. Munir Mohammad. The ceremony continued until 11 PM.
