ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi has urged overseas Pakistanis to maintain close and strong connections with the people of the areas of their origin, and with their intellect, expertise, experiences, and investments uplift their social, economic, and financial outlook.
“Expatriates should take steps to improve Pakistan’s image and highlight the human rights violations in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and the persecution of minorities in India in their host countries,” the president expressed these views while talking to a delegation of eminent UK and US-based Pakistani expatriates, at Aiwan-e-Sadr, on Monday.
The delegation included among others, Lord Qurban Hussain, Lord Wajid Khan, Imran Hussain, Yasmin Dar, Kamran Hussain, Arshad Rachyal, Raja Najabat Hussain, Majid Nazir, Aaman Majid, Hammas Majid, Tahira Mohammad, Nawab uddin, Syed Ali Kamran Kirmani, Shakoor Ahmed, Naqash Mushtaq Diwan, Sherbaz Munir Choudhary, Mehfooz Ullah, Sharafat Ullah, Sajid Khan, Nadeem Ahmed Khan, Brig Iftikhar Ali Khan (retired), Afzal Butt, and the leadership of the Khubaib Foundation.
Talking to the delegation, the president termed the Pakistani diaspora around the world a great asset who were contributing with their hard work, knowledge and intellect to the progress and prosperity of their host countries.
He asked the members of the delegation to invest their knowledge, intellect and expertise to create enabling conditions in Pakistan to retain its precious educated and high-quality human resources which were direly needed for Pakistan’s socio-economic development.
He also expressed his concern over media reports of the brain drain of over 700,000 educated and skilled human resources abroad in the last few months.
The president said that although Pakistan was facing difficult economic and financial situations but they were surmountable.
He said that Pakistan was on the right track in empowering women and differently-abled people, providing patronage to orphans, and shifting its focus from curative treatment of diseases, which was expensive and unaffordable, to preventive mode of treatment which would help ensure health at a minimal cost.
He said that Pakistan had an excellent record of hosting four million Afghan refugees for nearly 40 years, mostly out of its own resources, which was an example of hospitality, morality and care for the suffering humanity. He said that the recent war in Ukraine had brought to light the incidents of discrimination in the treatment of refugees.
The refugees from Ukraine were being welcomed by the EU countries whereas the refugees from other parts of the world were expelled and allowed to be drowned in the sea, he opined.
The president said that the primary aim behind the creation of the United Nations (UN) was reducing the conflicts around the world, however, it was unfortunate that conflicts were reduced mostly in Europe whereas remained unabated in other parts of the world, especially in Muslim Countries due to vested interests and ethics and morality deprived world order.
He said that the UN could not stop wars and conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Afghanistan and other parts of the world which were waged primarily by spreading misinformation, fake news, and disinformation to achieve certain objectives of the developed world.
The issue of Indian Illegally Occupied Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir was one of the oldest but unresolved agendas still waiting for implementations of several UNSC resolutions which was unfortunate, he added.
While referring to the rising tide of Islamophobia and the extremist Hindutva philosophy in India, the president said that religious extremism was on the rise in India, and the majority Hindutva-inspired Hindu population was being pitched against all religious or ethnic minorities of the country.
He said that minorities were being discriminated against, harassed, victimized, and intimidated across India on the basis of their religion.
He said that minorities, especially Muslims, were even afraid to call their relatives elsewhere because of the fear of victimization by the Indian Security Forces.
The president said that the overseas Pakistanis had a duty to highlight the atrocities being committed by the Indian Security Forces against the innocent Kashmiris to muffle their demand for their right to self-determination which was promised to them under various UN Security Council resolutions. He said images of the innocent Kashmiris brutalised by the heartless Indian Security Forces should be widely circulated in the international media to build pressure on India to resolve the long-outstanding issue of IIOJ&K in accordance with the UN resolutions.
The president appreciated the Khubaib Foundation for patronising the orphans, creating enabling conditions for their financial and economic empowerment and helping them lead full and happy lives. He said that the Foundation should continue its good work to alleviate the sufferings of the victims of the recent climate change-induced super floods in Pakistan.
Khubaib Foundation is an independent, non-governmental organization (NGO) registered as a Trust, and is engaged in diversified social welfare, relief and rehabilitation activities for Pakistan’s most vulnerable segments of society.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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