Pakistan’s Muslim Organisations award Franciscan friar for assisting AIDS victims
(May 19, 2011) In Pakistan, an association of Muslim organizations has given an
award to a Franciscan friar for his 17 years of service to HIV victims. The Dialogue
for Development Forum, a coalition of non-governmental organizations in Karachi on
Sunday, handed out awards to 15 people for their work with HIV/AIDS sufferers. Franciscan
Brother Khushi Lal was the only Catholic among them. Forum president Abdul Rahim Moosvi
called the brother “a motivating machine,” who helped all the organizations with medicines
and innovative ideas. The award ceremony was held after the 28th International
AIDS Candlelight Memorial at the Karachi Press Club, where Archbishop Evarist Pinto
of Karachi lit the first candle. “The Vatican donated US$ 10,000 to help people with
HIV in Pakistan last year, which we distributed among NGOS through Brother Lal,”
the prelate said at the event. Brother Khushi Lal pioneered Church anti-AIDS efforts
in 1994, in Lahore where he visited drug users and sex workers in red light areas.
He has helped establish six organizations that offer help to victims of AIDS, and
is the officer-in-charge of the “New Lights Aids Control Society” in Karachi. The
Karachi-based organization is presently providing medicine to 400 patients around
the country. The Franciscan Brother is also assisting a Caritas Pakistan-sponsored
micro credit scheme for six HIV patients. According to the National AIDS Control Program,
there are about 97,400 people living with HIV/AIDS in Pakistan.