Mango lovers had a feast as they literally devoured ‘Anwar Ratauls’ and ‘Chaunsas’, two popular varieties of Pakistani mangoes, descending upon them from all corners of the town.
Sohni Dharti, a non-profit socio-cultural organisation of the Pakistani community in Al Khor Qatar, witnessed a huge number of people at its mega cultural event last week at BS Sports Hall in Al Khor. The Sohni Dharti Mango Festival provided a unique opportunity to members of Pakistani community and others to taste fresh mangoes from the country.
Sohni Dharti Chairman Rana Anwar Ali opened the festival with Pakistani embassy officials such as Commercial Attache Arbab Qaisar, Community Welfare Attache Hafiz Junaid Amir Sial, and Defence Attache Commodore Muhammad Irfan Taj in attendance. Sohni Dharti executive committee members also attended.
“This is seventh annual mango festival that we have organised. The festival is to promote Pakistani culture, fruits, vegetables and taste,” said Rana. He added people from more than 30 countries visited the event.
There were all kind of mangoes from Pakistan available for the visitors. “Pakistani mangoes have unique taste, sweetness and smell. The most popular kinds [at the festival] were Chaunsa and Anwar Rataul,” said Rana.
Popular Pakistani food items were also part of the festival. The unique thing in this year’s festival was that it included food stalls set up by Pakistani families living in Doha.
Summaya Qasim, Maryam Qasim and Muhammad Asim were on the “Aloo Naan” stall. Rimsha Liaqat put up a stall of Haleem, while Khaled Khan attracted the visitors with his “Chapli Kabaab” stall. Shahid Nadeem and his wife served the visitors “Gol Gappay”, a traditional Pakistani street food. There were also a Lahori Dahi Ballay (street food) stall, put up by Akif. Mrs Hanif served Haleem and Samosay. The most decorated stall was Ice Pops, set up by Muhammad Johar and Ali Zaid.
Famous Pakistani restaurants in Doha, Zaoq and Shezan has also set up their stalls at the event. The stall of frozen Pakistani products by Takreem also attracted visitors. United Bank Limited Qatar also participated in the festival and introduced its products to the visitors.
Pakistan Business Forum president Ahmad Hussain, Ch. Ajmal from Pakistan Welfare Forum, Qaisar Anwar from Pakistan Professionals Forum Qatar, Muhammad Furqan Paracha and Dr Tariq Masood were some of the special guests who attended the festival.
Besides mangoes, the festival also had plums, melons and vegetables from the Swat district in Malakand division and other northern areas of Pakistan.
All fruits and vegetables from Pakistan were available to visitors at discounted prices. Besides food, the festival also featured Pakistani dress, mehndi/henna, and traditional jewellery stalls.
Earlier this year, Sohni Dharti organised a grand bazaar featuring mandarin festival and fresh Pakistani fruits and vegetables. That festival too was attended by a large number of Pakistani expatriates and featured some of the best mandarin varieties (kinnow) from Pakistan. Kinnow, widely grown in the Punjab province, is exported to many countries of the world.
The main objectives of Sohni Dharti are to promote cultural, social and sports activities for Pakistanis residents of Al Khor Community; develop the talents of Pakistani children in education, culture and sports; contribute to welfare and development of the community; and work to integrate Pakistanis in the larger Al Khor community.
Membership of Sohni Dharti is open to the people of Pakistani origin residing in Al Khor community, and to Qatargas and Rasgas employees living in Doha.