Overseas convention condemns attack on Malala Yousafzai

ZURICH: A leading organisation of overseas Pakistanis has called on the government of Pakistan and main political parties to unite against mounting extremism and corruption and learn lesson from Malala Yousafzai’s episode to set a clear progressive direction for the country.
At the annual conference of the Pakistan Overseas Association Forum (POAF) here, leading activists of Pakistani communities in Europe demanded that problems of overseas Pakistanis be resolved on priority basis.
They said Malala Yousafzai had united the nation and had sent a message to the world that Pakistanis are against violent extremism and its record against extremism is unmatchable. The convention unanimously condemned those extremist religious leaders who have failed to speak against attack on Malala by the Taliban terrorists and continue to make excuses.
Chaudhry Akram Minhas said that POAF’s chairman said that the recent increase in call rates to Pakistan had dealt a massive blow to the working class Pakistanis. He termed it a conspiracy against overseas Pakistanis as the lack of communication will weaken the connections of Pakistanis with their motherland.
He called on the government of Pakistan to bring legislation on overseas Pakistanis and give them the right to vote as well as become member of the legislative assemblies. He said it was unfair that millions of Pakistanis were being punished to hold accountable “only a couple of crooks”.
He appealed to political parties of Pakistanis to consider the long term interests of Pakistanis before them and ensure their rights are protected. Minhas said that POAF was committed to safeguarding the rights of overseas Pakistanis both in their host country and in Pakistan.
Amjad Khan, Vice Chairman of the POAF, said that attacks on courageous Pakistanis like Malala Yousafzai were discouraging overseas Pakistanis who have to make an effort to explain to their foreign-born children about their motherland.
“Everyone of Pakistani origin is now aware what happened to Malala, it has sickened everyone but worryingly young people are questioning if they want to visit Pakistan and make relations with it when there is no security for common people.
As if stories on corruption and nepotism were not enough to demotivate anyone, the rise of extremism is weakening Pakistan and if the slide into degeneration is not stopped then the whole nation will regret.
Overseas Pakistanis are at the forefront of defending Pakistan’s interests abroad and are more pro-active than any other non-resident community but due to the ill-fated policies of the rulers, their efforts are not appreciated enough and to make everything else worse, the bad news never seems to stop.”
He said Pakistan is a country with so many natural resources and gifted commodities and the country leads in the textile trade and sugar industry, however, due to the nurture of corruption at a high level and the violence between religious and political views it is difficult for oversees Pakistanis to support their country of origin to help it excel as an emerging market or support its GDP growth.
Syed Khurram Raza from Germany said that statistical analysis data shows that the oversees Pakistanis have profitable businesses and a huge amount of wealth but this is of no help to Pakistan in the way it could be because of the single most troublesome issue of corruption.
“The answer is quite plain and simple; it’s all about corruption by the ruling class. They have not learned any lessons from the past. If overseas Pakistanis are assured that their investment will be safe, no hurdles by the corrupt bureaucracy and full security to them then Pakistan doesn’t need to look to monetary organisations for help but our leaders don’t want to do that.”
He said Pakistani diplomats overseas were “more interested in their salaries and education of their children at top foreign schools and cared less for the interests of Pakistan”.
Other speakers called for the scrapping of the decision to increase call rates to Pakistan. They agreed that this decision had serious repercussions for the economy of Pakistan not only in Pakistan because less people are now calling Pakistan and it has affected many Pakistanis who deal with calling cards in European cities.
The government was urged to ask the missions and embassies abroad to open their doors to Pakistanis who are not getting enough help from the officials.
Every speaker paid tribute to Malala Yousafzai’s courage and said that her tragedy can be a catalyst for positive change for Pakistanis, especially youngsters who are now aware how brave she is in standing up for a progressive Pakistan.