Leading political leaders of Pakistan on Thursday underscored the need for unity and oneness to surmount various challenges confronting the country. Speaking at a reception hosted in their honour by Pakistan High Commissioner to the UK Wajid Shamsul Hasan at the Chancery building, the leaders including Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Chairman, Parliamentary Kashmir Committee and Senator Salim Saifullah Khan, Chairman, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expressed their determination to overcome these difficulties.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said although at present the country was beset with numerous problems and challenges, he was confident through unity they would be able to overcome them. He lauded the services rendered by the Pakistani Diaspora both to the British and Pakistani economies and said through sheer dint of hard work, the Pakistani community has raised the image of their motherland.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman in his brief remarks pointed out that Pakistan was passing through a difficult phase of its history in terms of law and order and economic stagnation. Under these circumstances, he said it was the national duty of all to unite and take the country out of its present troubles. He also referred to the Kashmir issue and said stability in Pakistan would help to raise the confidence of the Kashmiri youth.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman mentioned the holding of all parties conference on Kashmir in Islamabad on July 28 to evolve consensus on Kashmir and thanked the parties for agreeing to participate in the meeting. Senator Khan said in Pakistan people appreciate what the expatriate Pakistanis are doing for their motherland. Describing them as ambassadors of Pakistan, he lauded their contributions to the national economy through remittances and investments.
He urged the UK Pakistani Diaspora to have faith in the Pakistani political leadership though he admitted that the leaders had let them down many times. "Please continue to have faith in us, in our system and in the country, which has a great future," he told the gathering.
The High Commissioner in his vote of thanks said this was the beauty of democracy that leaders from different parties had gathered in the High Commission in a show of solidarity and give message of hope and optimism to the Pakistani community. Federal Minister for Petroleum, Shipping and Ports Dr Asim Hussain and former foreign minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, Lord Nazir Ahmed, Lord Tariq Ahmed, Lord Qurban Hussein, councillors and members of the Pakistani community also attended the reception.