The visiting four-member delegation of Senate Standing Committee on Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis has offered assistance in addressing the concerns of expatriate Pakistanis on various issues facing them in their homeland.
The assurance was given during the course of their interaction with the members of the British-Pakistani community at the luncheon reception hosted in their honour by Pakistan High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan on Thursday. The four-member cross party delegation comprising Senators Naeem Hussain Chattha, Enver Baig, Tariq Azeem and Raza Mohammad Raza reached UK on a three-day visit on the final leg of their European tour, which has already taken them to Italy and Spain.
The senators were informed of the issues pertaining to Overseas Pakistanis Foundation Housing Scheme in Islamabad, delay in getting of documents from Pakistan, security of investments and court disputes and incidents of land grabbing. Senator Chattha praised the contributions of overseas Pakistanis in the national development and described them as the country's true ambassadors.
Speaking about the current economic and other challenges facing the country, he thought that these were self created due to misgovern and mismanagement over the years and the fact that the country has deviated from vision of the founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah and his motto of 'unity, faith and discipline.'
Senator Chattha called for national unity and said the February 18 parliamentary elections has given the hope of a consolidating democracy on a sound footing in the country. He acknowledged that Pakistan's official machinery was 'quite slow' and expressed hope that the present government would take remedial actions to revitalise and reinvigorate the bureaucracy.
Senators Tariq Azeem explained that the new settlements of expatriate Pakistanis in Milan (Italy) and Barcelona in Spain were facing problems which were altogether different from those of UK. He said PIA was contemplating extending flights to Barcelona via Milan.
He said in order to address these issues, the Pakistan government opened new consulates in Milan and Barcelona in 2006 and this has led to the alleviation of problems although some still remain. Senator Azeem further said the delegation also took up the issue of nine Pakistanis arrested in Spain recently on the alleged charges of terrorism and asked the authorities to expedite their trial.
Senator Enver Baig said the Community Welfare Attache Talha Saeed had briefed them on the issues facing the community in UK, which they would raised at the relevant quarters on their return home on Saturday. Regarding the housing project of OPF in Islamabad, he expressed his disappointment that no progress has been made despite the launching of the scheme in 1994 and heavy investment by the overseas Pakistanis.
Senator Raza from Balochistan said they would raised effective voice in the Senate on the issues put to them in Italy, Spain and UK. He urged the overseas community to reject the negative perceptions about Pakistan abroad and said barring few trouble spots in the frontier region, the rest of the country was quiet and peaceful.