by ANSAR M BHATTI

ISLAMABAD, NOV 24(DNA) – Thousands thronged to the charity bazaar on Sunday held under the aegis of Pakistan Foreign Office Women’s Association (PFOWA).

The hallmark of the bazaar, as usual, was the presence of various foreign missions that established their stalls.

On stalls, the foreign missions displayed various items depicting lifestyle, culture and traditions of the respective country.

Besides, the event provided the guests with an opportunity of tasting delicacies of various countries.  The Central Asian and Arabian cuisines remained center of attraction or the visitors.

The bazaar brought together a vast mix of cultural diversity from different countries.

First Lady, Samina Alvi inaugurated the charity bazar at the premises of Foreign Affairs Ministry, where stalls showcased traditional artefacts of countries including China, Tajikistan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Russia, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Egypt, Iran, Japan, Maldives, Central Asian states, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Iraq and Palestine.

Most of the European missions however did not take part in the event this year.

Earlier, Begum Alvi in her address said it was heartening that the charity bazaar was presenting a bouquet of culture, art and cuisine with an essence of harmony and affinity among different nations.

She lauded Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the diplomatic community in Islamabad to team up for a noble cause of philanthropy.

She also shared her philanthropic work including providing education to street children, women empowerment, distribution of ration and clean drinking water to underprivileged Muslims and minorities, and arranging cataract surgeries.

She added that the PFOWA charity Bazaar was a good opportunity for diplomats from different countries to learn about each other’s cultures. The First Lady also visited different stalls set up at the bazaar.

Patron PFOWA Mehreen Qureshi said the Association was adhering to its mission of philanthropy since 1947 to reach out to low-income families in diplomatic corps.

A ‘Parade of nations’ was held where children of diplomatic staffers, donning cultural dresses of their respective countries, presented tableaus and waved their respective national flags The PFOWA bazaar also provided the visitors an opportunity to indulge their taste buds into dining experience of a variety of cuisines from different countries.-DNA