One of the oldest Pakistani expat family residing in the Sultanate has gifted a unique and the oldest labour cards in its type to the National Museum of Oman. Shaandar Bukhari who gifted this card to the National Museum stated that this bilingual card which he had kept safely for all these years along with other family documents is very unique in its type and nowadays it is called Resident card.
“It is made of thick paper and was in use almost half a century ago and has an emotional connect with us as it holds the memories of departure from home land and starting a new life here in the Sultanate,” he said.
He said that over the years expat community has played a vital and significant role in supporting the economy and also in the early years of ‘Al Nahdha‘ developing the education, health care and defense services hand in hand with the nationals as per the vision of late His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said and that’s the inspiration that fuelled the idea of somehow contributing in returning the good will back to the Sultanate in shape of this card which will help educate visitors to the museum as how this department of labour and the card has evolved over the years to its current shape which is a smart card.
Shaandar Bukhari & his father Mr. Sakhawat Bukhari the Bukhari duo who are a well-known names among the Pakistani diaspora residing in the Sultanate due to their social work towards their and other communities residing in the Sultanate, Mr Sakhawat Bukhari who is well in his 70’s is a retired philanthropist and has also served as the Secretary General of the Pakistan Social club for 4 tenures. He is a resident of Oman since 1970’s when he first arrived as a personal Tutor of English language.
Shaandar Bukhari also thanked the wonderful team of National Museum for a smooth process namely Ms Safiya Al Kalbani and Ms Mouza Al Wardi from the collections department.
“During my visit i also got to meet the Secretary General Jamal bin Hassan Al Moosawi and had the opportunity to congratulate him on receiving the ‘Order of the Star of Italy’ from Government of Italy.
