By Nurul Islam Laskar,
GUWAHATI, APRIL 27: The 18th Annual General Meeting of the Minority Welfare Society (MWS) was held with a daylong programme in Guwahati on Sunday. The meeting started with the recitation from the Holy Quran followed by paying homage to those members of the Society who passed away during the preceding year. It may be mentioned here that MWS was created about 25 years ago to look after the interests of those Muslim inhabitants of the three Barak Valley Districts of Assam viz Cachar, Hailakandi, and Karimganj who are now settled in and around Guwahati.
Abdul Waris Chowdhury, General Secretary of MWS, presented the Annual Report of the Society for the year 2013 at the outset. During the year 2013, MWS organised several programmes for felicitation of outstanding students belonging to the community, hosted an iftar party during the month of Ramzan, and assisted about 25 unemployed persons extending them microfinance to the tune of Rs 5 lakh for taking up productive enterprise. Chowdhury also informed that during the year in question, MWS organised felicitation functions for senior citizens – separately for both men and women. The Society donated an aggregate amount of Rs 1.38 lakh to 18 needy students and ailing patients to enable them to pursue their academic courses and take care of medical treatment respectively.
In the pre-lunch session, Abdul Malik, former State Election Commissioner and Abdul Hoque, former Commissioner Law, Assam formally unveiled the second volume of MWS journal ‘Barak’. The highlight of the current volume is that it contains write-ups by NRI Barak Valley residents now living in faraway places such as Australia, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Germany, and USA.
In the Seminar that followed, women members deliberated on ‘Role of Education in the uplift of the Society’ which was presided over by Nilofar Mazumdar and participated by Raina Khanam Mazumdar, Kaniz Fatima Laskar, and Burhana Choudhury.
Kausar J Hilaly ACS, Registrar, National Law University & Judicial Academy Assam, spoke and exhorted the young generation to work hard and achieve excellence to face the competition of modern day work successfully. Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury, President Samajwadi Party Assam State Branch and Senior Advocate of Gauhati High Court lauded the Society for its yeomen’s service to the community over the years.
Abu Saleh Najmuddin, former Minister Assam, handed over the first Sahidul Alom Choudhury Memorial Award to Abul Hussain Mazumdar ‘Saberi’ for his outstanding achievements in the fields of academics, literature, and journalism. Saberi is adept in Arabic, Assamese, Bengali, English, and Urdu languages and has several books and publications in these languages to his credit.
Helal Uddin was complimented for his pioneering work in mobilising a lot of volunteers from the community to come forward to donate blood to needy patients whenever such occasions arose. Winners of prizes in children’s qirat, art, quiz and extempore speech competitions held earlier in the day were awarded prizes at the conclusion of the programme. Muktar Hussain Ahmed Choudhury, President, MWS made the concluding remarks and offered the vote of thanks.
Thanks for great work, Allah bless all of you….