Islamic Relief chief in line for award

Jehangir Malik OBE, Islamic Relief’s UK Director and Qurban Ali who set up the ‘Qurban & Surraya Educational Trust’ which provides education for underprivileged girls have been nominated for an Azm Award.

Organised by social movement Azme Alishan, the Azm Awards honour Pakistanis around the world whose everyday work helps show a truer picture of a people and country’s spirit and potential.

Taher Kahn, Founder, Azme Alishan said: “Jehangir and Qurban made the awards shortlist as they and their work are the embodiment of Azme Alishan’s ideals. Both men prove that wherever you are, great change begins with a first step, an apparently small act that can enable great positive change around the world. We are enormously proud of both men’s work as British Pakistanis and the Pakistani ideals they promote within Britain and around the world.”

Azme Alishan launched in 2010 and has become the fastest growing social movement working to change the world’s perception of Pakistan. Highlights of their work include a national flood relief appeal, a citywide environmental and clean up drive, a tour around the UK discussing the real Pakistan, national debates and song competitions with nearly a million people touched by the campaign in just over a year.

A shortlist of 20 Pakistanis has now been selected for the Azm Awards and includes a prominent Pakistani blogger, the Pakistani women’s cricket team, a survivor of terrorism who now works to help victims around the world and a woman who turned discarded plastic bags in Karachi into bricks to build houses for the poor. 

Nominee Jehangir Malik OBE says: “We should share with British Pakistanis that they shouldn’t feel despair, it’s our duty to teach the world that there’s so much that Pakistan has to offer. British Pakistanis must have hope and conviction that they help make a better Pakistan. Don’t focus on obstacles.”

The awards ceremony will be broadcast globally on March 23rd, the anniversary of the foundation of Pakistan.