Hassan Afzal Khan honours the winner of the tournament.

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

HBL Global Remittance Business organised a cricket tournament in Al Quoz Dubai for Non Resident Pakistanis (NRPs) to promote Pakistan remittances and reinforce the importance of legal channels for remitting their money back home.

The concept was named “HBL Ka Cricket Hero” with the aim to spread awareness about the disadvantages of using Hawala/Hundi – The message conveyed “Hundi say Inkar Pakistan say payar" (Reject Hundi/Hawala for the love of Pakistan).

While addressing the closing ceremony of the cricket tournament, Consul General of Pakistan in Dubai & Northern Emirates Hassan Afzal Khan highlighted that remittances play a crucial role in Pakistan’s economy and Pakistan receives most of its remittances from the Gulf Countries.

Afzal  said that the government of Pakistan realises the importance of timely receipt of these remittances by the families of migrants and migrant workers and different initiatives have been launched to facilitate the flow of remittances through the legal channels.

In this context, HBL collaborated with the leading Money transfer companies in UAE, to participate and contribute collectively towards promoting this initiative and cricketing activity was selected for this engagement, being a true passion for every Pakistani especially the laborers. 

Two Pakistani cricketing stars Umar Gul and Imran Nazir joined the teams in the finals and a huge crowd of Pakistani diaspora thronged the ground to see their stars playing with labour camp players in the final.

In addition to the trophy, the tournament’s winning and runner-up teams were awarded Dhs10,000 and Dhs5,000 respectively by HBL.

Representatives from HBL Pakistan Faisal Lalani, Head International Banking, Mujtaba Askari, Unit Head HBL and Muhammad Mudassir, DGM & Team Lead HBL UAE remittance desk were also present on the occasion.