Haripur - Anadolu
The IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, a Turkish aid NGO, has laid the foundations of a new educational campus for orphans in Pakistan in the town of Haripur. Hundreds of children were left fatherless and motherless in the country after the earthquake in 2005 and flooding disaster in 2010. Having previously assisted needy families in Pakistan with social responsibility projects, IHH began building orphanages since 2005 with the help of philanthropists. Expressing that IHH supported thousands of families who fled Afghanistan and sought refuge in Pakistan, IHH Vice President Yusuf Bilgin said the project would primarily benefit orphans, the poor and students lacking education opportunities. The eight-block complex will include a dormitory for orphans and a cafeteria, and IHH's ultimate aim is to also construct a university. Bilgin stressed that by laying the foundations, IHH had come one step closer to building a university campus. President of Pakistan's Khubaib Foundation, cooperating with IHH on the joint project, Nedim Ahmed Khan said, “Until 2005, Turkish-Pakistani relations were at the diplomatic level. But after the disaster in 2005, relations between the two countries reached their former brotherly level.”