Pakistan's envoy to Britain, Dr Maleeha Lodhi has said that overseas Pakistanis in the UK are a model community who have played an exemplary role in helping victims of the October 8 earthquake.
Addressing a community meeting in Peterborough after visiting the newly constructed Jamia Ghousia Mosque, she said that the generosity and commitment of Pakistanis both at home and abroad had helped the government to meet the challenge of relief for millions of victims.
She said similar enthusiasm and commitment would enable the country to negotiate the next and critical phase of recovery and reconstruction.
Dr Lodhi was presented on the occasion with two cheques for the President's Relief Fund: one by the Ghousia Mosque for 34,428 pounds and the other by children of Bretton Woods Community School for 2,000 pounds.
She said these efforts would serve as an example to others to continue and sustain their engagement with the process of rehabilitation of earthquake victims.
Dr Lodhi briefed the audience of the largest relief operation mounted in Pakistan's history and the position, five months after the earthquake.
She cited the recent UN pronouncement, which credited the government of Pakistan and relief agencies of averting a second humanitarian disaster and of effectively managing the aftermath of the earthquake.
She said that as the UN officials had also acknowledged and there had been no outbreak of disease or epidemic, no large scale exodus of people from the mountains and no cases of severe malnutrition.
Dr Lodhi told the community members that this outcome would not have been possible without the efforts and help of the overseas Pakistanis and civil society in Pakistan itself.