PRESS RELEASE
6th Executive council Meeting

The Sixth Meeting of the Executive Council, held at the Zainabiya Centre, Birmingham on lOth July 99 attracted almost 200 Councillors, invitees and observers from Aden, Africa, France and almost all the Jamats in the UK. Also in attendance, as observers, was a group of senior citizens from Stanmore.

AYATULLAH SEESTANI

In his review of the past quarter, the President, al Haj Mulla Asgher conveyed recent developments in connection with Ayatulla al-Udhama, Syed Ali al- Seestani. After the recent assassination of Ayatullah Syed Muhammad al-Sadr, certain Iraqi youngsters demanded that Ayatullah Seestani lead Jummah prayers. When he declined to do so, his house was set on fire. Alhamdulillah, the Ayatullah and his son escaped unharmed although part of the house was severely damaged. The President reported that he had spoken to Agha on the phone on the occasion of the Wiladat of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.). Agha had sent his Salaams and had specifically requested that Mumineen be dissuaded from bringing hukuk funds to him in Iraq, as that caused him great difficulties with the authorities. Agha strongly recommended that all such funds be sent to any of his Wakils in different parts of the world.

TRIBUTES

The President observed, with great sadness, that in the past quarter the Community had suffered a tremendous loss in the passing away of Marhum Roshan R. Merali, Marhum Nurali Gulamhussein, Marhum Mulla Bashir Rahim and Marhum Habib Walji.

KOSOVO

The President reported that almost £36,000 had been raised specifically for assisting the displaced people of Kosovo. After thorough research the World Federation has decided to focus on tabligh activities although £20,000 had been sent through various Islamic Relief organisations The translation of the Holy Quran in Albanian language was in the process ofbeing printed. Haji Nazir Virji, on behalf of the Peterborough Jamat donated £3500 for the Quran Printing Project. According to Haji Kassam Manji who had recently visited the Kosovo region, some 1700 Mosques had been destroyed, 200 of them being Shii. He also reported that 50% of the Muslims in Kosovo were amongst the lovers of Ahlul Bait.

SOMALIA

Forty two families from Somalia had now been settled in the UK and there were some more elsewhere in Europe. Most of the expenses in the process of their migration and settlement including airfares were borne by the World Federation. He acknowledged the assistance in kind by the Community in the UK and also appreciated the self reliance and initiative of the families from Somalia in their own settlement.

COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN JAMATS:

The President acknowledged that there has been excellent co-ordination of activities with CoEJ and numerous projects initiated by the CoEJ had been supported by the World Federation. Such a cordial relationship was a mark of maturity and sincerity on the part of the CoEJ leadership rather than 'subservience' as had been misinterpreted by certain quarters.

Visit to India and Pakistan

Declaring his intention to visit Pakistan and India during the months of September and October, the President invited Councillors to join him if they could.

AI Amali Distribution:

The latest publication by the World Federation, the Amali of Sheikh Mufid has been well received. After Kitabul lrshad, it is the second English translation of the work of this great master. He thanked Haji Shabbir Walji for a donation of $10,000 towards the publication. This has greatly assisted the secretariat in distributing free copies to libraries allover the world.

EDUCATION ASSISTANCE

Though this was a very high priority item on the World Federation agenda, in spite of the paucity of funds, the World Federation has done its utmost. However much more needs to be done to enable the community to have sufficient funds at its disposal to invest in the future of community leading to girdle their loins to give impetus to the project.

MEDICAL ASSISTANCE

Appealing for funds he stated that while the activities at the Medical Advisory Board were on the increase, there was a huge deficit in the fund and it has become increasingly difficult to assist even the most needy patients.

THE SECRETARY GENERAL'S VISIT TO GUJARAT

OPENING OF HAn NAn COMPLEX:

On 2nd of April, the Secretary General attended the Opening Ceremony of Haji Naji Complex consisting of 70 flats. The flat consisted of two bedrooms with all the amenities and on average covered 475 sq ft area. 66 flats were allocated to families in Bhavnagar and 4 flats were allocated to families from Kukad.

On behalf of the World Federation, the Secretary General thanked many donors who donated generously towards the construction of the complex. In addition, he appreciated the efforts of Haji Ramzanbhai Asaria, Haji Vazirbhai Verteji and his sons and many people of Bhavnagar as well as Haji Hasanalibhai Merchant, the President of the Council of Gujarat, who took great pain to see that the complex is finally completed.

ECONOMIC UPLIFTMENT PROGRAMME IN GUJARAT

On the instruction of the President of the World Federation, the Secretary General had an extensive discussion on the proposal from the World Federation for the economic upliftment of our brothers in Kutch and Kathiawad. He was happy to inform the Council that the Economic Upliftment Committee under the Council Of Gujarat has already been established. Initially, seven economically backward small towns and villages in Gujarat will be adopted. The process will involve the active participation of local Jamat and taking of appropriate guarantee. To initiate the proposal will require the sum of Rupees 21 lakhs (3 Lakhs for each village or town). Once the scheme is in place and running, it will uplift the downtrodden families of the community to be self sufficient and self employed

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS:

The council learnt with great satisfaction that the accounts presented a healthy and positive picture of the financial status of the World Federation. The Ron. Treasurer, Raji Ahmed Daya, reported that the 7% administrative fee for the last two years had resulted in reducing numerous deficits. Indeed, the figures presented were very much in line with the budget projection at the 1997 Conference.

Furthermore, the increase had also reduced pressure on other votes and in particular on Sehme Sadat. The Ron. Treasurer reported that the Sehme Sadat surplus had been reduced down to £ 132 K as per the accounts presented at the meeting. As a matter of fact, the current surplus in Sehme Sadat had been further reduced down to £89,000. This colossal reduction in the surplus meant that the World Federation had been able to send a total sum of£284K to Agha in the last five months.

Drawing the attention of the Councillors to the overdrawn vote of Sehme Imam (A.S.), the Ron. Treasurer explained that the sum of nearly £180,OOO/- was given as a loan to Sehme Imam (A.S.) by the Secretariat from the internally generated funds.