Concert for Pakistan

Guest post by Adriana Dunn, blog editor at TakePart.

Saturday night Sept. 12 was not a typical evening at the UN General Assembly Hall in New York. There was praying, dancing in the aisles, and rock star performances. The night was a much-needed outpour of support, a rally for the Pakistani refugees in the North West region of the country.

When I first heard of the concert a week and a half ago, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. But the emails started to roll in, and I began corresponding with Salman Ahmad, a UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador, member of the music group Junoon and organizer of Saturday's event. Before long we had guest blog posts from Anand Patwardhan, Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, Sussan Deyhim, Jeff Skoll, Bobby Sager, Chris Wangro, Nusrat Durrani, and Deepak Chopra on why they were getting involved with the IDPs in Pakistan. What I loved about each post is that every author had their own unique reasons for joining the effort.

And just because the concert's over doesn't mean we're stepping on the brakes anytime soon. There's more to come this week--we'll be posting exclusive videos from Melissa Etheridge and Sting, plus additional concert video in the coming days. We're doing everything we can to spread the word about the refugees in the North West province of Pakistan who so desperately need our help. Join us by telling the people in your network about us and find out what you can do right now to help.

Salman's influence is undeniable--he pulled together some of the biggest rock stars, philanthropists, filmmakers, philosophers, celebrities, ambassadors and others on short notice to show the international community that the humanitarian crisis and instability caused by fighting between the government of Pakistan and the Taliban must be urgently addressed. An article published by the APP today summed it up nicely:

"An elated Pakistan's UN Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon, who was moving spirit behind the event, said that he was absolutely delighted that it was such a big success. 'It's a historic day for Pakistan,' he said. "

Find out how you can help the internally displaced Pakistanis by visiting the concert page, and to learn more about the crisis in Pakistan, visit our Web page dedicated to the issue.

By Salman Ahmad  |  September 15, 2009; 2:42 PM ET
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