There is hope for a better and stronger Pakistan: Senator Saeed Ghani Visits FIRD secretariat

(7th June, 2014)

Senator Saeed Ghani, Chairman Senate Functional Committee on Government Assurances, from Pakistan People’s Party visited the Secretariat of Forum for International Relations development and London College of Business Management and Information Technology, for his meeting with Mr Toaha Qureshi MBE, Chairman FIRD. He was also scheduled to deliver a keynote address on the current situation of Pakistan and its potential implications. Umar Mahmood gave a brief introduction on Mr Ghani’s life and his struggle from being a councilor to becoming a Senator in the Parliament as a man from the people. Mr Qureshi thanked Mr Ghani for visiting FIRD and appreciated his struggle.

Speaking at the seminar, Mr Qureshi expressed his concern that there were invisible forces trying their best to derail democracy in the country. He criticized the role of dictators for damaging prospects of democracy and not allowing political parties to flourish in the country. The constant uncertainty and chaos was leading to certain sector of the community becoming radicalised. He shed light on how he started various projects through the platform of a charity, Stockwell Green Community Services (SGCS), to promote education and work towards counter radicalization, and how the models of SGCS were adopted by the British government and still implemented to date. SGCS was also influential in establishing an educational institution and also a think tank, so as not only to become self-sustaining, but also support the underprivileged class that was unable to pursue higher education.

Senator Ghani, while thanking Umar and Mr Toaha Qureshi, said that he considered it an honor to be speaking to such an august gathering at FIRD. Senator Ghani said that he came from a normal family, where his father was just a trade unionist and he worked hard to become one of seven elected candidates for the Senate out of 270 candidates. He also thanked his party for their support as it showed that they were not following the age old tradition of supporting political dynasties or influential candidates. Speaking on the current tension between PTI, PAT and PML-N, he said that there wasn’t a big threat to democracy from Imran Khan or Tahir ul Qadri, but the major threat may come from the attitude of Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif and his PML N government. If they mishandle the situation as they did before, they could create a problem for themselves. He shed light on the role of PPP that was influential in promoting democracy in the country. The mere fact that the outgoing President, Mr Zardari, was taking oath from a democratically elected Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, was in itself a unique scene which many could not have expected. As history has shown, there are many things that can be done to prolong one’s stay in office but PPP realised the need for democracy and supported the process.

He hoped that political parties in the country were now mature enough to solve the major issues among each other. He also rued the fact that the biggest issue for Pakistan was its negative perception all over the world. For him, the over active media was the biggest factor in promoting this negative image of Pakistan. According to him, any institution that gained independence in Pakistan used this independence to barge into independence of others. He also wisely suggested that all the institutions in Pakistan should learn from their mistakes. In his response to questions from the audience, he echoed hope for Pakistan and also encouraged the youth to join politics and stop criticizing the bad politicians by leading from the front.

Mr Toaha Qureshi thanked Mr Ghani and also synced in line with his opinion about the positive changes in Pakistan. He assured Mr Ghani that FIRD would do everything possible to contribute towards democratic growth and progress in the country. Mr Qureshi went on to say that bad press sells and the same is across the globe, the use of social media is important to highlight the positive work carried out by Pakistan and its people. We must have the right information to spread.

A number of questions were asked from Mr Ghani by the audience. The first question was related to Indo-Pak ties and improvement in ties. Mr Ghani was of the opinion that there are a number of forces behind the scenes that do not want the relations to improve, echoing the words of Mr Qureshi, and they need to be tackled. He called for countering these forces and elements to improve these ties. Further answering on the 14th August protest, he said that Tahir ul Qadri was an irrelevant force in the whole process because he is not part of the system, unlike Imran Khan, who is an active part of the system. Further, he called upon the youth and the media to use correct information from Pakistan and spread it abroad to change the negative perception of Pakistan. His final words were,

“People who say that Pakistan produces terrorists, can easily be countered by using the same argument and saying that, we are the Only Country that is looking Eye to Eye with the terrorists and fighting them without any fear of death. We are a nation, who even knowing that we can die at a certain place in a terror activity, still bravely carry on with life”

Mr Akram Qaimkhani for his vote of thanks thanked Mr Ghani for speaking as well as Mr Toaha Qureshi and Mr Umar Qureshi for arranging this insightful event.

The session proved to be productive for the audience as Mr Ghani gave an insight into real politics taking place in Pakistan and the issues encompassing the country. The seminar was attended by community leaders, activists, researchers, students and the media.