The country's huge Pakistani community has a new friend in high places with the appointment of Javed Malik, Islamabad's ambassador-at-large, as the first UAE-based governor on the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF).
The foundation's remit is to look after the interests of Pakistanis abroad as well as those returning home. Mr Malik was given this additional role by Yousef Raza Gilani, Pakistan's prime minister.
"I will be able to reach out to the community and advise them, I can also take the feedback from the community," said Mr Malik, who lives in Dubai. "I will be an ambassador to overseas Pakistanis."
The main issue for the 850,000 Pakistanis in the UAE was the lack of schools offering the Pakistani curriculum, he said.
"There are some problems with student education, there are too few schools offering the Pakistani curriculum and the choice is limited. More needs to be done. "
In addition, he saw a need for more community cohesion. "We will address the issue of community centres. The OPF does have a mandate to open community centres and schools and we will look into that in light of the local laws. We will have to see that there is no conflict. If there is a great need for a Pakistani centre, I am sure we can work with the Government to make that happen."
Also high on his agenda was helping Pakistanis returning home to find affordable housing, improving education for children in Pakistan whose families were living abroad, boosting business links for those wishing to expand into the country and giving legal assistance where it was needed.
But he emphasised that what the OPF, funded by the Pakistan government, could not do was assist people made redundant in the UAE. "What we can do is facilitate their arrival and departure at the airports and if anybody experiences any problems, they can contact the OPF."
asafdar@thenational.ae
Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
Karwaan
Producer: Ronnie Screwvala
Director: Akarsh Khurana
Starring: Irrfan Khan, Dulquer Salmaan, Mithila Palkar
Rating: 4/5
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