On Friday 31st July, we hosted the long-awaited ‘Eid Special’ – celebrating Eid with an evening of fun-filled family entertainment with delicious cuisine at the Holiday Inn, Winnersh. The guest list included media personalities from the likes of Venus TV, Soch TV & Prime TV to businessmen, writers, charity workers, local dignitaries, including Parry Batth (the Mayor of Wokingham), the fabulous Reading residents and of course, some of our Special families. The star attraction was classically-trained, young Pakistani artist Shujat Ali Khan, grandson of the legendary musical maestro Ustad Salamat Ali Khan, son of Ustad Sharafat Ali Khan and nephew of Ustad Shafqat Ali Khan. INSAAN wanted to raise awareness and acceptance for children with special needs in our community and promote awareness of what INSAAN has done to help.

The evening was hosted by the wonderful Dr Farzana Abid, a Consultant Psychiatrist who is also the lead on the INSAAN Health Advisory Panel. Opening the program with talawat (recital) in Arabic and English translation was Dr Ejaz Elahi, former Chairman of Reading Council for Racial Equality (RCRE) and currently a member of the Independent Monitoring Board at Heathrow.

He was followed on the podium by Farhat Khan, an established writer and poetess, who presented a short poem written especially to mark the occasion. INSAAN Co-chairperson, Dr Asif Butt then gave a brief account of the activities the charity has been engaged with since inception two years ago. He emphasized, in particular, the need for the wider community to be more accepting and supportive of our fellow citizens who have to cope with disability on a daily basis.

Dr Butt commented: “Sadly, disability, in general, remains a taboo subject within the Pakistani community. It is discussed very little due to the associated social stigma.” In order to overcome such challenges, part of the strategic plan adopted by INSAAN is to raise awareness about disability through regular public meetings and information dissemination by exploiting social media. Local schools, statutory bodies, service providers and other local charities have welcomed the INSAAN initiative and have been very encouraging in their support.

In the words of the Guest of Honour, Mayor of Wokingham, Parry Batth: “INSAAN is making a real difference to the lives of those families with Special and Additional Needs. Dr Butt and his team at INSAAN have my full support.”

The after-dinner vote of thanks was delivered by prominent businessman, TV host, political analyst and INSAAN Chair of Trustees, by Mr Raza Ahmed, who also touched on the controversial topic of consangineous marriage and genetic defects in the newborn, and thanked the Mayor for giving up his time generously to support INSAAN.

Our Treasurer Asaf Saleem presented our exciting chance for our guests to win our 20 unique and sought-after prizes – ranging from signed Amir Khan gloves, to scuba-diving for a family of 4, paint-balling for 10 people, and vouchers for various retail outlets and restaurants such as Las Iguanas. The Reading community were very generous in their donations.

After the formalities were over, the guests were introduced to the main act of the night. Pakistan-based performer, Shujat Ali Khan and his virtuoso band wowed us with his amazing vocal talents, covering all music genres from Qawwali, Sufi/folk and Bollywood. It was a truly sizzling performance, unlike anything Reading has seen or heard before. Shujat inherited the special talent for music. Coming from the Sham Chaurasi gharana, his lineage has been serving classical music for the last 500 years. Shujat is the 12th Generation of singers from this lineage. He is representing his family in the 21st Century through sufi/Qawwali, classical music and Bollywood. Currently Shujat Ali Khan is making his name around the world, stretching from the UK to the USA, and across to places like U.A.E and Thailand. Shujat recently participated in a popular reality TV show called Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge and made his recognition as a unique and talented singer – gaining immense praise by great singers Lata Mangeshkar and Himesh Reshammiya.

The audience was totally captivated as he blasted out hit after hit, as well as granting popular requests from the floor. As the evening drew to a close, INSAAN Media and Marketing Director and Events Co-ordinator, Mr Shamus Butt, expressed his gratitude and appreciation by extending an open invitation to Shujat when he is next back in the UK.

Finally, the last word goes to INSAAN Patron, Alok Sharma, MP for Reading West and Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party: “I am very proud to be involved with INSAAN as its patron. The charity does fantastic work supporting families and children with disability issues and also raising important issues related to disability. My heart-felt thanks to the whole INSAAN team for the real difference that they are making to individual lives. Now that the charity is established, I want to work with its Trustees in helping to raise knowledge about INSAAN and its excellent work at a national level.”
Our greatest thanks go to all our supporters who were able to attend to support our charity cause, our friends for spreading our heart-felt message to the wider community, and Shujat Ali Khan for providing his world-class entertainment and support of INSAAN.

It is with all YOUR help that we succeed in helping families facing disability.