30 couples married in joint ceremony

Staff Report

LAHORE: Thirty couples, including five non-Muslims, tied the knot on Sunday in a joint wedding ceremony at Aiwan-e-Iqbal, under the supervision of the Punjab government.

Acting Punjab Governor Justice Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhry was the chief guest on the occasion, which was attended by over 1,000 guests. After this ceremony, 683 couples have been married. The provincial aims to arrange 1157 marriages.

The Punjab Secretary for Zakat and Ushar Shafiq Hussain Bukhari and Secretary Social Welfare Saeed Ahmad Khan also attended the ceremony.

Dowry worth Rs 40,000 was given to each bride, along with a cash prize of Rs 10,000.

This was the seventh joint wedding in the city, and was more cheerful than last year’s affair. Security at the event was tight.

Dr Mahmood-ul-Hassan Arif recited the nikah for the 25 Muslim couples, while Father Mushtaq administered wedding vows for the five Christian couples. Sweets were distributed among the guests after the ceremony.

The married couples expressed their gratitude to the provincial government for reducing their financial burden by arranging the ceremony.

Addressing the occasion, the acting Punjab governor expressed his satisfaction at this new social campaign to support the needy. He said that such practices showed that the society and the government cared about the poor.

The acting governor disclosed that the rest of the marriages had also been finalised. Around 250 couples would be married in a ceremony planned for October 3 in Faislabad, on the eve of the city’s 100-year celebrations. Fifty others would be wed on September 8 in another ceremony at Toba Tek, while 25 couples would be married in Jhang on September 25.

The organisers of the event stressed that this social campaign should be extended to remote districts of the province, where 70 percent of the population resided.

The marriage event was organised by philanthropists Aqil Kareem, Sheikh Abid Hussain, Malik Muhammad Raiz and Farrukh Nawaz Chughtai with the assistance of the provincial government departments including Zakat, Social Welfare and City District Government Lahore.

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