News

Wajahat Ali Khan
ISLAMABAD: Senator Sahibzada Dr Pir Noor-ul-Haq Qadri, Chairman Al Mustafa Welfare Trust International Abdul Razzaq Sajid, columnist Sajjad Azhar, Ammar Barlas, Muhammad Nawaz Kharl, Asim Dogar, Anees Barlas, Chaudhry Ehsan-ul-Haq and Ali Ehsan, along with others, have expressed their heartfelt condolences to senior anchorperson and analyst Mazhar Barlas on the sad demise of his brother and sister-in-law.
The visitors shared the bereaved family’s grief and offered prayers for the departed souls, seeking Allah Almighty’s mercy and forgiveness for them. They also prayed for patience and strength for Mazhar Barlas and his family to bear this irreparable loss.
They conveyed their deepest sympathies and solidarity with the bereaved family during this difficult time.

Bureau Report
RAWALPINDI: Chairman Al Mustafa Welfare Trust International, Abdul Razzaq Sajid, visited Jamia Rizvia Zia-ul-Uloom in Rawalpindi to offer condolences and recite Fateha on the sad demise of the renowned religious scholar and intellectual, Hazrat Allama Pir Syed Hussainuddin Shah (may Allah have mercy on him).
During the visit, Abdul Razzaq Sajid met Pir Syed Habib-ul-Haq Shah Sultanpuri and Pir Syed Inam-ul-Haq Shah Sultanpuri to convey his heartfelt sympathies and share in their grief.
He paid tribute to the late scholar’s religious, intellectual and spiritual contributions and prayed that Allah Almighty grant him the highest ranks in Jannat-ul-Firdous and bless his family, disciples and followers with patience and strength to bear this profound loss.

Dr. Rasheed Ahmed
How a simple rainwater harvesting system could turn 600 acres of dry grazing land in Gandaf Syedan, Haripur, into orchards and bring a livelihood back to the village.
A Village Beside Tarbela, Far from Everything
Gandaf Syedan lies in Haripur district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, close to the banks of Tarbela. Yet the village sits about an hour and a half by road from Haripur city, and for the people who live there it may as well be a world away. The road climbs through mild-to-moderate hill terrain, past terraced slopes and dry watercourses, and ends in a valley that has been left almost entirely to cattle grazing.
The irony is hard to miss. Here is a community living near one of the country’s largest reservoirs, and still the land around them is arid. The village depends almost wholly on rainfall. When the rain is irregular or insufficient, wells and springs run low, crops fail, and families are left with little to eat and nothing to sell.
Too Little Water, Then Too Much
The water problem here has two faces. For most of the year the land is dry. The summers are hot, the winters are dry, and almost all the rain arrives in a few weeks of monsoon, between July and September. When it comes, it comes all at once. With no structures to hold it, the water races down the bare slopes, tears away the topsoil and leaves the village with floods, gullies and a thinner, poorer soil every year.
So, the same slopes that suffer from drought also suffer from flooding. Water is both missing and wasted.
Meanwhile, there is almost nothing else to fall back on. Apart from grazing, the area offers no agriculture or other regular source of income. Wheat, maize and livestock keep some households going, but every year inflation pushes up the price of food, fuel and basic needs while incomes stay where they were. Literacy is low, schools are hard to reach, and good jobs are far away. The result is a community that is hospitable and close-knit, but under severe economic strain, and for many families’ lives have become miserable.

Sites marked on Google Earth during the survey, including points of entrance, a diversion point and the main junction.

Listening Before Building
The project began with an invitation. Syed Naveed Hussain Shah of Gandaf Syedan visited the office of Green Celestial, a design and consulting firm working on water resources, and asked its technical team to come and see the problem for themselves. The team travelled to the village for a reconnaissance survey: an early field visit meant understanding the land, the water situation and, above all, the people.
They walked the slopes, observed how water moves across the landscape, and sat with the elders and young men of the village to hear what they needed. The conversations made one thing clear. The community did not want charity. They wanted a way to use their own land.
The Idea: Hold the Rain on the Hill
The survey found a simple answer. Around 600 acres of moderately steep strips around the village, now used only for grazing, have the slope and terrain to support orchards. The same slope that sends the monsoon rushing away also lets water be captured high up and carried down by gravity, with no pumps and no electricity bill.
Based on community demand and technical checks, the team identified 10 sites that are feasible for rainwater harvesting structures. Depending on what a detailed survey shows, these could be retaining walls and weirs, diversion canals and embankments, or small dams with canals. Each site can store a useful amount of water and has the slope to run a gravity-fed irrigation system.
This is not rocketing science, and it is not expensive. Dry-stone and masonry walls, earthen embankments and simple diversion channels are well-understood techniques, and they can be built largely with local labour and local material. With modest resources we can establish a good system, and one that the village itself can maintain.
From Water to Orchards
Stored water changes what the land can do. The slopes of Gandaf Syedan are suited to olive, litchi, guava and citrus, fruit trees that suit hillside planting and bring a better return than grazing. Once the water is in place, the system is completed with an irrigation method matched to each site: low-pressure drip irrigation, pitcher irrigation, sprinkler guns or surface irrigation.
The design also must be looked after. The recommendations of the survey include sizing each structure to its catchment and to the demand for water, keeping storage large enough to meet need while limiting losses from overflow and evaporation, protecting water quality with simple screens and sand filters, and setting up community-based management so that cleaning, inspection and repair become a shared habit.
The benefits would reach well beyond the orchards. Terraces, walls and tree cover hold the soil in place and soften the monsoon floods. Water stays in the ground longer. Orchards create seasonal work, fruit to sell and a reason for young people to stay. In an area with no other source of income, that is the difference between getting by and getting ahead.
An Invitation to Our Readers
The reconnaissance survey is only the first step. The next stage is a semi-detailed survey of the 10 sites, followed by design, construction and the planting of the first orchards. That work needs partners: donors, volunteers, engineers, agricultural experts and organizations that believe water should be kept, not lost.
The Welfare Trust has always stood with communities in need. Gandaf Syedan is a chance to support something that lasts, a system that keeps working after the ceremony is over and the donors have gone home. A few walls and channels built now can give a village its water, its soil and its livelihood back.
The rain will come again next monsoon. The only question is whether it runs away down the hill or stays to grow something. With your support, we hope it will stay.

Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD: Chairman of Al Mustafa Welfare Trust Abdul Razzaq Sajid held a series of meetings with various delegations and prominent personalities at the trust’s Islamabad office, providing an opportunity to exchange views on social welfare, media, literature and community service.
Those who met the Al Mustafa chairman included internationally renowned Qari Syed Sadaqat Ali, PTV Digital Head and noted novelist Ziaf Syed, central president of Anjuman Talaba Islam Faisal Qayyum Magray, and Al Mustafa UK trustee Rubina Khawaja.
Other visitors included Shoaib Hashmi, Manager Media and Public Relations at Alkhidmat Foundation; BBC’s Zahir Mahmood; Advocate Afshan Saeed; prominent businessman Rana Muhammad Irfan; Imran Siddiqui; Rehan Tahir; Tahir Loon; Engineer Muhammad Arshad; Ahmad Raza, Nazim of Anjuman Talaba Islam Azad Kashmir; Mufti Muhammad Abid Hussain Chishti; Najam Shakoor; Amin Mirza; Muhammad Majid; and several other guests.
The meetings brought together representatives from media, literature, religious circles, business and social organisations, reflecting the diverse professional and community networks engaging with Al Mustafa Welfare Trust.
Abdul Razzaq Sajid, who leads the trust’s humanitarian work, welcomed the visitors at the Islamabad office. The meetings also highlighted the importance of engagement and cooperation among individuals and organisations working in different fields of public service.
Photography: Nasir Iqbal

Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD: General (R) Abdul Qayyum, President of the Ex-Servicemen Society (ESS), met Abdul Razzaq Sajid, Chairman of Al Mustafa Welfare Trust, in Islamabad to discuss the construction and establishment of the Al Mustafa Eye Hospital in the federal capital and other humanitarian initiatives.
During the meeting, the two discussed the proposed eye hospital project and explored ways to support the trust’s ongoing welfare activities.
General (R) Abdul Qayyum appreciated Al Mustafa Welfare Trust’s humanitarian services and its global mission to help vulnerable communities. He acknowledged the organisation’s efforts in providing healthcare and other essential services to people in need and assured Abdul Razzaq Sajid of his support and cooperation in this noble cause.
General Abdul Qayyum has held several prominent positions during his public service career, including Senator, Chairman of Pakistan Steel Mills, head of Pakistan Ordnance Factories and Military Secretary to former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
He is also known for his contributions as a columnist and intellectual, regularly expressing his views on national affairs and public issues.
The meeting highlighted the importance of cooperation between individuals and organisations committed to humanitarian service, particularly in expanding access to healthcare for underserved communities.
The proposed Al Mustafa Eye Hospital in Islamabad is part of the trust’s efforts to strengthen its healthcare services and make eye treatment more accessible to people who cannot afford it.
Photography: Nasir Iqbal