Humanitarianism at its best

Bhimber's businessperson offers yet again his precious land for a public cause free of cost 

At a time when materialism appears to be increasing exponentially and people do not recoil at the thought of making away with fellow human beings on petty land disputes, some exceptions however betoken that the society is not bereft of the goodness of mankind.

One such example drew the attention of this scribe after a brief official handout disclosed that a local businessman in Bhimber district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) had once again offered his precious land to the AJK government for a project of public utility.

The handout said that Khawaja Zaffar Iqbal Butt handed over transfer deed of 30 kanals of land, worth at least Rs 60 million, to AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider at a brief ceremony in Bhimber, the other day, for establishment of a technical education institution thereon.

Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider (right) and Chairman TEVTA Zafar Nabi 

Butt receive land transfer deed from Khawaja Zaffar Iqbal Butt (middle)

AJK’s senior minister Chaudhry Tariq Farooq, who represents Bhimber city in the AJK legislature, minister for information Mushtaq Minhas, MLA from Barnala Col retired Waqar Noor and several other government functionaries were also present on the occasion.

Bhimber is likely to home an industrial zone under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Mr Butt said he wished to see young boys and girls imparted training in different skills to meet the requirement of skilled human resource for the proposed zone and added that chairman AJK Technical Education and Vocational Authority Zafar Nabi Butt, who also belongs to Bhimber, had drawn his attention towards this noble deed.  

The prime minister was so much moved by the generosity that he announced on the occasion that the government would establish a full-fledged College of Technology on the land by allocating resources for it in the next fiscal year.

Interestingly, the PWD Rest House, where the ceremony was held, has also been built on a piece of land donated by Mr Butt to the AJK government in 2010.

Initially, Mr Butt was asked to spare just 2 kanals for the rest house but he offered 3 kanals. And by the time the project saw completion it had been spread over 5 kanals, but Mr Butt never raised his eyebrow at the expansion.

And it was not the only piece of land offered by the Good Samaritan for a public cause. There were already many other in the list.

Previously, Mr Butt had spared land not only for a mosque and adjacent seminary in a housing scheme raised by him in Bhimber city, but also two plots for construction of the buildings of Rescue 1122 and press club.

It did not end here, in 2013 and 2014, he gave 40 plots of one kanal each to Bhimber based professionals, such as academics lawyers, doctors and engineers, and as many plots of 7-marla each to the local landless people in his housing scheme, without any charges.

The 52 year old, who spent considerable time of his life in United Kingdom as a dual nationality holder before returning to Pakistan, had purchased 3500 kanals in Bhimber city in 2004. Later, he also built an RCC bridge over a wide water channel to connect his land with local courts and other offices.

 Khawaja Zaffar Iqbal Butt

When this scribe contacted Mr Butt by telephone on Sunday, he was initially reluctant to speak about his philanthropic work, but when pressed to share details for the purpose of spurring others to follow the suit, he agreed and said whatever he had given was a peanut of what he had got from the Lord.

“It’s not my land that I have donated to different people without any charges… It’s Allah’s land and His trust to me… It was He Who guided me earn money in UK to be able to buy this land in 2004,” he said.

Mr Butt said all through his life he had not greased the palm of anyone to expedite his deals, even though sometimes he had to pay the price, apparently.

“But in the end I always came triumphant… I left everything to my Creator and He smoothed the ways for me beyond my expectations.”

Tariq Naqash