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O 190825Z OCT 09
FM AMCONSUL LAHORE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4199
INFO RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL IMMEDIATE 0504
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RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
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RUMICEA/USCENTCOM INTEL CEN MACDILL AFB FL
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD IMMEDIATE 4895
RUEHLH/AMCONSUL LAHORE 5358

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 LAHORE 000200 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SCUL PK
SUBJECT: RAMADAN CHARITABLE EVENTS WELL RECEIVED IN LAHORE 
 
¶1.  (U) SUMMARY:   During the holy month of Ramadan Consulate 
Lahore distributed gift bags containing school supplies, juice, 
and a snack to over 1,000 children from four madrassahs and 
three orphanages.  We also provided a package of basic food 
stuffs to 150 underprivileged families.  Major Urdu and English 
language media provided broad coverage of the charitable events. 
 Three of the four madrassahs were new partners for Post this 
year, a step forward in outreach to the Muslim community.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
RAMADAN SPIRIT OF CHARITY AND GIVING 
 
¶2.  (U) The holy month of Ramadan is a month marked by the 
spirit of sharing and charity for the Muslim community.  In the 
spirit of the season, between August 22 and September 28 
Consulate Lahore distributed gift bags to over 1,000 children at 
madrassahs and orphanages throughout the city.   The gifts bags 
contained school supplies, juice, and a snack.  Drawing from 
President Obama's remarks, the Principal Officer stressed to all 
the organizations involved that Consulate Lahore and the entire 
U.S. Mission in Pakistan were "working to ensure that less 
fortunate Muslims were able to fulfill their charitable 
obligations not just during Ramadan but throughout the year." 
 
CHARITABLE EVENTS WITH FOUR MADRASSAS, THREE FOR THE FIRST TIME 
 
¶3.  (U) Post presented gifts to 200 male students of the the 
Jamia Al Quds Ahle-Hadith.  The jamia, or school, takes its name 
from the Arabic word for Jerusalem, Al Quds.  The Ahle-Hadith 
sect is a conservative sect of Islam, often referred to as 
Wahabis.  Hafiz Abdul Wahhab Ropri runs this all-male madrassah 
and is an influential Ahle-Hadith leader.  The school, for 
children ages 6-18, offers Quran memorization, instruction on 
Islamic jurisprudence and the Hadiths, or sayings of Prophet 
Muhammad.  The school does not offer English or Arabic language 
courses. 
 
¶4.  (U) Post distributed gifts to 200 students at the coed shia 
madrassah, Jamia Baqir ul Aloom.  This is a more liberal 
madrassah that has modern facilities such as computers.  Most 
students attend a secular school in the morning and come to the 
madrassah for religious education in the afternoon.  With the 
exception of high school-aged girls, who waited in another room 
to meet the PO and APAO (both women), girls and boys sat in the 
same room to hear a series of short speeches and receive their 
gift bags.  Their clothing suggested their families were members 
of Pakistan's elusive middle class, well-off enough to pay for 
their children to attend school but not so well-off to afford a 
good English-medium school.  Children were dressed in party 
clothes for the event.  One girl, about seven years old, dressed 
as a fairy princess, with wings, a tiara, and a wand. 
 
¶5.  (U) Post gave gifts to 200 students of the Jamia Muhammadia 
Rizvia, an all male madrassah.  We supplemented the usual gift 
bags with about a dozen hand-stitched soccer balls, donated by a 
local company that makes sporting goods, owned by a Post 
contact.  This madrassah is run by Qari Zawwar Bahadur, a 
Brailvi/Ahle Sunnat religious-political leader, active in 
interfaith dialogue.  Students at this madrassah, with ages 
between eight and twenty-two years old, learn to correctly 
recite the Quran.  Qari Zawwar seemed slightly embarrassed to 
admit that the students did not learn the meaning of the words 
they recited.  The madrassah did not have the resources to teach 
Arabic, or to teach Quranic interpretation in Urdu.  It did, 
however, offer students room, board, and school uniforms free of 
charge.  This is a significant incentive for poor families to 
send their sons despite the limited applicability of the 
education they receive to earning a livelihood.  Once students 
graduated, their families might/might send them to another 
school to learn to read, write, and interpret the Quran. Qari 
Zawwar stressed to us that Brailvis were opposed to violence, 
and that Jamia Muhammadia Rizvia is wholly funded by domestic 
benefactors. 
 
¶6.  (U) Post presented gifts to 50 students at the all-male 
madrassah Jamia Rizvia.  This madrassah is run by a noted 
Brailvi/Ahle Sunnat leader, Mufti Ghulam Sarwar Qadri.  He 
served as Minister for Religious Affairs in the Government of 
Pervez Musharraf.  Students, aged 8-18, learn to read and recite 
the Quran in Urdu and do not learn English as a language.  Qadri 
showed us a library with Arabic-language books on Islam.  He 
mentioned that they hoped to remodel the school and add classes 
 
LAHORE 00000200  002 OF 003 
 
 
for girls.  The boys and young men were well-behaved and did not 
hesitate to interact with us after the distribution, laughing 
and posing for a group picture. 
 
ORPHANS PRESENTED GIFTS 
 
¶7.  (U) Post paid a visit and gave gifts to 200 children at the 
SOS Children's Village.  SOS Children's Village is a private 
social welfare organization that provides orphans and abandoned 
children a home.  Children come to SOS as young as three months 
old and remain there through tenth grade, when they are able to 
lead independent lives.  Director Almas Butt showed us 
facilities that include 19 housing quarters for boys and girls, 
a library with Urdu and English literature and three computers, 
and the neighboring school that supports the orphanage. 
Children welcomed the visit to their houses, showing pictures of 
their "families," as they call their housemates.  Between 10-12 
children and a house mother live in each house.  Older children 
are responsible for cooking, cleaning and helping to look after 
the younger children.  To receive gifts, children lined up in 
perfect rows, each one saying "thank you" and shaking hands. 
The older students were fluent in English and were happy to 
share their experience with us. 
 
¶8.  (U) Post distributed gifts to 223 boys at the Darul Shafqat 
(The House of Affection) orphanage and to 170 girls at the Darul 
Aman (House of Sanctuary) orphanage.   The two orphanages are 
run by Anjuman Hamayat-i-Islam, and NGO with a substantial 
endowment.  They run schools, colleges, technical schools and a 
law college where the orphans study with mainstream students. 
The boys' orphanage's drum and bugle corps, in uniform, played 
to welcome us.  Two alumni of the orphanage, one a former member 
of the national assembly and the other a former judge, 
participated in the distribution and were keen to have media 
coverage.  They stressed that they took a holistic approach to 
setting their charges on successful life paths, from their 
education through their marriages.  Girls, in particular, would 
be vulnerable to abuse if they graduated from school and did not 
have assistance in finding suitable husbands. 
 
FOOD STUFFS DISTRIBUTED IN NEEDY NEIGHBORHOOD 
 
¶9.  (U) Post distributed bags of basic food items to 150 
families in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Lahore.  Seeds 
of Peace alumni selected an NGO-run school for primary through 
secondary students in a poor neighborhood, which includes a 
small Christian community.  The families of the school's 
students received packets of flour, vermicelli (a noodle used in 
a traditional dessert served during Ramadan and Eid), sugar and 
oil.  The Seeds of Peace participants, students at expensive 
private English-medium schools, worked with a will but were 
clearly outside their normal environment.  As we handed over 
bags of supplies to women whose hands were roughened by domestic 
work, the bejeweled mother of one of the Seeds of Peace alumni 
mopped her son's brow with an embroidered handkerchief.  Note: 
The Seeds of Peace program brings together students from 
countries in the Middle East and Asia for a summer camp in the 
United States.  Its curriculum focuses on building relationships 
and promoting peace. 
 
TRASH FROM HAPPY MEALS HELPS FUND SCHOOL 
 
¶10.  (U) The final event of the holy month was an Eid lunch for 
100 students at a local McDonalds restaurant.  The children were 
from the Abroo Educational Welfare Organization (EWO), which 
provides free education and lunch to children of domestic 
workers.  The families of students enrolled at Abroo EWO have 
incomes of 2,000 to 5,000 Pakistani rupees (about USD 24 - 60) 
per month.  The organization is funded by private donations and 
through fees received for collecting trash.  We saw this in 
action after the meal, when the children gathered their Happy 
Meal boxes.  This was our first event with Abroo EWO, and it 
almost did not happen.  The head of the organization initially 
resisted our offer.  Because the students' families would never 
be able to take them to McDonalds again, introducing them to an 
extravagance like a USD 1.50 Happy Meal would be cruel.  In the 
end, she agreed that every child should be able to enjoy a 
special treat at Eid.  Students were intimidated by their 
surroundings on arrival, but a McDonalds employee broke the 
chill.  The "party coordinator" led the children in songs, 
dances, and musical chairs.  A magician and his assistant put on 
a (low-rent but nonetheless) mesmerizing show, to squeals of 
 
LAHORE 00000200  003 OF 003 
 
 
delight.  Every child was a first-time visitor to McDonalds. 
When we asked what they liked best, the top three answers (in no 
particular order) were, "chips" (french fries), "the magic 
show," and "everything." 
 
¶11.  (U) During the month of Ramadan Post also hosted nearly 500 
political, economic, commercial, logistical, academic and media 
contacts to 21 iftaris (snacks to breakfast at sunset) and 
dinners.  These events, nearly all held at the Principal 
Officer's residence, were useful to thank and acknowledge our 
contacts.  They also served to introduce a newly-arrived PO to 
as many people as possible, at a time when many Lahorites' work 
day was compressed to a few hours a day due to fasting. 
 
WIDESPREAD, AND POSITIVE,MEDIA COVERAGE 
 
¶12.  (U) The month of charitable events was widely covered by 
English and Urdu newspapers.  English press included "Daily 
Times" (circulation 15,000) and "The Nation" (circulation 
25,000).  Articles appeared in several smaller Urdu dailies 
including "Ausaf," "Assas," and "Jurrat."  Most articles 
included a color photograph as well as text reporting on the 
events.  TV coverage including major channels Aaj TV, Geo, 
Samaa, and Dunya TV.  A "Frontier Post" story noted that, the 
faces of the boys of the Darul Shafqat orphanage "beamed with 
joy" while talking with the Principal Officer.  Geo Television 
ran a positive three-minute feature on the McDonalds event.  The 
reporter who covered the story said his editors were 
particularly taken with images of the Principal Officer "dining 
with the children of servants." 
 
¶13.  (U) For more information or to see photos, the point of 
contact is PAO Jamie Dragon, dragonja@state.gov, or visit 
Consulate Lahore's website, http://lahore.usconsulate.gov. 
CONROY