Saturday 9 December 2023
Islamabad (Urdu Point. News advertisement. 09 December 2023) If you have ever wondered on what basis Pakistani society is moving forward despite various economic and social problems, then according to many social intellectuals, the answer is this. It is said that the basis of this behavior is 'compassionate attitude of the common man to the common man'.
"Society stands on the foundation of compassion"
Social intellectual and writer Ahmed Ejaz while talking to DW Urdu had to say, “Apparently nothing is going well in Pakistan.
However, nothing stands in the way. People's marriages, businesses and daily routines continue, because of the common people's compassionate attitude towards each other. Our society is built on compassion.
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Social activist Dr. Farzana Bari told DW, "Pakistan's population is around 23 million.
There is extreme poverty. Yet people are not dying of starvation, basic needs are somehow being met. Charity plays a key role in this. Another way to look at it is to think if people were not so generous with charity, what would happen to society?"
It is not just sentimentality to say so, but it is also confirmed by various research data.
Statistics related to charity
According to the prestigious journal Stanford Social Innovation Review, "Pakistanis spend more than one percent of their country's gross economic output annually on charity, twice as much as neighboring India."
This annual average is slightly lower than rich countries such as Canada (1.2 percent of GDP) and the United Kingdom (1.3 percent of GDP).
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Pakistan Center for Philanthropy conducted a door-to-door survey in 2015, in which information was obtained from 15,000 households. An analysis of the data thus obtained revealed that ordinary Pakistanis "give away 240 billion rupees annually to charity."
According to the same report, “Around 98 percent of people in Pakistan spend money on some form of charity.
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Pakistan ranks 91 out of 144 countries in the World Giving Index.
Why are Pakistanis so generous?
According to Khurshid Nadeem, chairman of Rahmatul Alameen Authority and an intellectual, one of the main reasons for this generosity is the religious aspect of Pakistani society. Talking to DW, he said, "In Islam, helping others and spending on the needy is highly encouraged.
Therefore, as a Muslim majority society, it is part of Pakistan's identity. It feels good to do so as a human too. So this compassionate attitude is natural, which makes the heart big for charitable works."
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According to Ahmad Ejaz, one of the reasons for this is the fact that Pakistani society is built on traditional foundations.
He says, “Like any traditional society, we are used to living on our own. In modern societies the framework for public welfare and social development was provided by states. We do not have such infrastructure. People get ahead in life because they find a few sympathetic people."
"A common man in Pakistan gives more charity than the elite"
Sajjad Azhar, author of Rawal Raj, in his research article 'Why are Pakistani billionaires lagging behind in philanthropy?', concludes that ordinary citizens contribute more to charity, while it is often the case that for billionaire investors, charitable giving is tax-deductible. There is a tactic to avoid.
He writes, "Rich people spend a large part of their income in trusts, but in practice, very little of this money is spent and only paper money is used to get tax breaks from the government." "
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The discussion of Chaudhry Nisar Ahmed, Chairman of Alamgir Welfare Trust, a charitable organization based in Karachi, the capital of Sindh province, also supports that ordinary citizens in Pakistan are more ahead in charity work.
He says that last year he "spent Rs 1.70 crore on welfare works, of which about 60 per cent was donated by the common man." The remaining 40 percent was donated by wealthy citizens or institutions.
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Dr. Ashraf Ali, President of Al-Khidmat Foundation Punjab, one of Pakistan's largest charitable organizations, commented on this situation and told DW, "There is no doubt that ordinary citizens of Pakistan have invested billions in charitable works. Cars have an edge.
Most investors use this process to save tax.”
Dr. Ashraf Ali says, "Big investors in the world don't set up trusts and make them their sidekicks." Any trust should be free, transparent and like an open book. It should also be audited by impartial bodies, the results of which can be seen by ordinary citizens
People prefer to help directly rather than charities
According to a report by the Pakistan Center for Philanthropy, "Pakistanis prefer to help the needy directly, due to their lack of trust in many institutions."
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Commenting on this aspect, Dr. Ashraf Ali says, “Direct assistance to the beneficiaries is relatively easy.
You see for yourself what someone needs and then spend on it as much as you can. But institutions that have a good reputation, people also trust them, like institutions like Al-Khidmat Foundation and Edhi Foundation.
According to the president of Al-Khidmat Foundation Punjab, “Billionaire investors need to make the system of charities they establish transparent and contribute more to charity. Such organizations can do better charity work by adopting long-term projects. Therefore, full restoration of general trust in such institutions is also necessary. However, if the same is being done at the individual level, it is commendable."
