Kashmala Tariq, MNA and member, Relief Co-ordination Committee, has said that during their three-day visit, the parliamentary delegation held important bilateral meetings with senior US officials, and interacted usefully with Congressmen and people in trade and commerce.
Talking to newsmen, the spokesperson for the delegation said interaction with the Congressmen, Dan Burton, Joe Pitts and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee; Assistant US Trade Representative, Ambassador Ashley Wills; Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca as well as discussion at the Progressive Policy Institute and the Woodrow Wilson Center, had been highly useful.
Besides, she said the briefing on the US Congressional System and the visit of Congressional Research Service (CRS) were rewarding.
"It was not a pleasure trip," she said, adding, "we had a heavy schedule of engagements, and back to back meetings." Matters of vital concern to Pakistan were not only forcefully presented, but an effort was made to muster support for our standpoint particularly in the context of the trade promotion efforts.
"Image building of Pakistan remains foremost during such official visits," she said, adding these are undertaken only when there was a substantive need for a visit.
The chalked up programme was to assail misperceptions on certain issues, and to advocate cause of Pakistan on certain matters of vital importance to the country, she stated.
"And, ours was a view of the elected public representatives, and this adds a new dimension to our official stance in the matters," she stated.
Trade promotion, she stated was the basic purpose of the visit, while the trip was used to create awareness on earthquake relief and rehabilitation work.
On PTA, our stress was that the United States decides to ahead with it, as it best serves the interests of Pakistan, and that it was imperative to extend more market access to Pakistani products, with relaxation in tariffs.
To a question on earthquake relief, Kashmala Tariq said the delegation was in touch with the Federal Relief Commissioner Major General Farooq Ahmed.
She laid stress on cash donations by the Pakistanis abroad, for it was an instant help to the victims, plus, new warm clothings, blankets and sleeping bags, besides shelter. "The weather is turning harsh and treacherous;" she said adding, snowfall, rains and landsliding had rendered impossible reaching of the affected areas by road.
For the victims, even donation of a single dollar counts, she said, urging the Pakistani American community to continue to donate generously towards a humanitarian cause. A temporary housing unit costs some hundred dollars, while it is an immense timely help to survive the harsh weather conditions. She advised the community not to send used clothing, as the self-respecting people of the affected areas would never prefer these, if they declined to accept these.
Kashmala said before coming to Washington, majority of the delegation members had been to quake-hit areas and seen the devastation wrought in Bagh, Muzaffarabad, Chakothi, Uthmaqam, Batgram, Mansehra, Balakot, and Neelum valley, which has become a paradise lost.
Magnitude of the devastation is such that only those who have seen the affected area can tell what it rightly means. The member of the Federal Relief Co-ordination Committee said it was not a task to have been left to the civilian side alone.
"The Army has been of immense help they have shown their presence and undertaken relief work where it was impossible to reach," she said referring to the rugged terrain. She reiterated that USAID, UK and thousands of volunteers of domestic and international NGOs, besides al-Khidmat, Dawah and MQM have been rendering a remarkable relief work.
To a question, the spokesperson said Nato forces had done a commendable work by being effective relief distributors co-operating by helicopters in far off places.
On the international pledges for donation for reconstruction, she said, these have been highly generous and helpful. She particularly thanked the United States for the immense help.
On women's emancipation, she said the government was supporting on general justice bill. The Press is free and the issues of women and minorities get duly highlighted.
She expressed the hope that her draft on effecting changing in the Hudood ordinance would muster support and get through the parliament.
"In fact, it is a need of the international committee, and matter of image of Pakistan, which must be upheld."
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