Gujrat, Kharian and Mandi Bahauddin: Help at Home

In Gujrat district, almost every lane has a house built with money from abroad. For decades, men from Gujrat, Kharian and neighbouring Mandi Bahauddin have worked in Europe, the Gulf and the UK, and their remittances paid for schools, weddings and new homes. But migration has a second side. Some families borrowed heavily to send a son abroad and lost everything when the journey failed. Others are households run by women whose husbands are away. People from both groups search for an NGO in Gujrat.

Peace and Humanity Welfare Organization (PHWO) offers free help through volunteers, and nobody has to visit anywhere to use it. It does not maintain any office, staff or agent in Gujrat, Kharian, Mandi Bahauddin or elsewhere in the division. Its head office is in Larkana, Sindh.

What the census shows about Gujrat

The 2023 Census counted 3,219,375 people in Gujrat District: 1,610,964 women and 1,608,221 men. In the census table, Gujrat and Chakwal are the only Punjab districts where women slightly outnumber men, a pattern that fits a place where many men live and work abroad. In rural Kharian tehsil the gap is wider still. About 41.1% of the district’s people live in urban areas. The tehsils are Gujrat, Kharian and Sarai Alamgir, and Punjabi is the language of daily life.

The cost of dangerous journeys

In June 2023 an overcrowded fishing boat carrying migrants from Libya sank off Greece. Arab News reported that about 90 men from Gujrat district alone had boarded the journey, each paying traffickers around $7,000, and that families were left mourning and in debt (Arab News). Mandi Bahauddin lost young men too.

Debt is one of the needs PHWO accepts. If your family borrowed to pay an agent and is now struggling, you can explain it in a request. Please also report the agent to the Federal Investigation Agency and keep every receipt and message as evidence.

Debt, ration and laptops: what to ask for

• Debt from failed migration, medical bills or business losses.
• Ration for households whose remittances have stopped or never started.
• A laptop or phone for a student at the University of Gujrat or a local college, or for someone building skills to find work at home rather than risk an illegal route.

Apply on the Request help page, and add a live photo of yourself, explaining your need in your own words. Volunteers check every submission carefully. If the need proves genuine and PHWO is in a position to meet it, support follows; otherwise it cannot, and no timeline is ever given.

When the husband is abroad: family legal aid

Women in Gujrat sometimes face legal problems their husbands’ absence makes worse: maintenance that stops arriving, in-laws who push them out of the house, a marriage that has broken down by phone, or disputes over children. Cases like these are heard in Gujrat’s district and family courts, with the Lahore High Court above them.

Through PHWO’s free legal aid you can set out your case online for volunteer advocates. No FIR is needed first. Custody questions and hearings coming up soon are reviewed first. A volunteer lawyer can take your case only if one is available; PHWO cannot guarantee representation.

Floods on the Chenab and the Jhelum

Gujrat lies between two rivers. In August 2025, Aaj News listed 66 villages affected by floods in Gujrat and 35 in Mandi Bahauddin (Aaj News). Seasonal nullahs also flood parts of the city after heavy rain. If flood damage has left you in need, describe it with photographs in a PHWO request.

Local public services

• Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Teaching Hospital, attached to Nawaz Sharif Medical College, and the THQ hospitals in Kharian and Sarai Alamgir.
• Rescue 1122 for emergencies and river rescue.
• 15 for police; 1043 for the women’s helpline.
• BISP for Kafaalat support.
• The FIA for complaints about human smuggling and visa fraud.
• The Deputy Commissioner’s office for official flood relief.

The Gujrati diaspora: volunteer and give

Gujrat’s communities in Spain, Italy, Greece, Norway, the UK and the Gulf are some of the most generous in Pakistan. Overseas Pakistanis can volunteer as fundraisers with PHWO from wherever they live, and advocates practising in Gujrat are always needed. Each volunteer’s time is acknowledged in writing: a certificate first, then letters of thanks and of experience that can go into a CV.

To give, use the donation page; money and goods are accepted from abroad and from Pakistan, and every rupee of Zakat or Sadaqah reaches people in need. Choose Sponsor a case to fund one verified family directly.

Many Gujrati parents search for a match for a son or daughter living overseas. PHWO’s free Rishta Desk welcomes such families, whatever their religion. A live selfie is compared with the photos and PHWO staff review each profile, and families make their own decisions. No match is guaranteed.

Public services in Gujrat you can also use

• Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Teaching HospitalPublic teaching hospital
• Rescue 1122Emergency and river rescue
• Benazir Income Support ProgrammeCash support for eligible families
• District Administration GujratDeputy Commissioner's office
• Lahore High CourtAppeals from Gujrat courts
• Federal Investigation AgencyComplaints about human smuggling and visa fraud

These are public or independent services, listed to help you. They are not part of PHWO.

Frequently asked questions