By Usha Wagle Gautam
The Nepal Muslim Society (NMS) partnered with Sheikh Thani Bin Abdullah Foundation for Humanitarian Services (Raf) hosted an Iftar at Al Arabi Sport Club last Friday.
The programme was chaired by NMS President Abdul Hafiz and attended by Mani Ratna Sharma, Chargé d’ Affaires at Nepal’s Embassy in Doha. Other dignitaries at the event included Abdul Woleed al-Inzi, General Director of Raf, and Avid Bin Dabsan al-Khatha, Captain at Public Relations Department of the Ministry of Interior (MoI).
More than, 1,800 Nepalese expats attended the Iftar, which has been co-hosted annually by Raf since 2009.
In the first session, Faisal al-Hudawi from MoI talked about traffic rules, explaining them with audio and visual materials. He also told the participants about the new Resident Permit (RP), which will replace the stickers affixed to expats’ passports with RP cards. “Expats will now be provided with a new residence-cum-ID card,” al-Huwadi said.
Nepalese Chargé d’ Affaires Mani Ratna Sharma thanked Raf for co-hosting the Iftar and the MoI for arranging a session on traffic rules on the occasion. “Such collaborative programmes strengthen the bilateral ties between the two countries,” Sharma said.
Raf General Director Dr Abdul Woleed al-Inzi said they are always happy to team up with the Nepalese community for events. “This year’s participation is higher than that of previous years, and this shows the increasing bonds between Nepalese and Qatari nationals.”
Raf also honoured NMS and religious leader Mohammed Ashraf for his contributions to the organisation. NMS honoured Raf, Public Relation Department of MoI, Nepalese Embassy, RK Sharma of Pigeon Engineering Trading and Contracting Company, Nasser Ali al-Ali of Nasser Al Ali Enterprises, Nabin Raj Satyal of Man Force Trading and Contracting Company, Sakir Ali and Mahtab Alam for their respective contributions.
People came from various parts of the country to participate in the Iftar programme. Abdul Miya from Sanaiya said he has been regularly attending the programme since 2010, and enjoys the gathering. According to Salim Khan who works as a driver in Doha, the programme helped him with some confusions he had about the traffic rules.
PARTICIPATION: Some of the Nepalese who attended the event.
