Regional connectivity key to prosperity of S Asia: Mushahid

LAHORE: Chairman of the Senate Defence Committee Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed has said that regional connectivity is the need of the hour for peace and prosperity in South and Central Asia.

According to a press release, Mushahid Hussain said this while addressing the concluding ceremony of 3-day international conference on ‘Central & South Asia Re-connected’ online, which was organised by Punjab University Department of History & Pakistan Studies in collaboration with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.

PU VC Prof Dr Khalid Mahmood, Regional Director Southeast Asia Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Dr Ellino Zeino, Chairman Department of History Prof Dr Mahboob Hussain, researchers and a large number of students were present.

Mushahid Hussain Syed further said that due to its strategic location Pakistan could play a positive role to bring connectivity.

In his special note, Governor Punjab/Chancellor PU Baligh-ur-Rehman thanked the eminent scholars for sharing their experiences. He said that through this conference people could be able to understand the problems of regional connectivity.

Dr Khalid while congratulating the PU Department of History for organizing a successful conference hoped that this kind of activities would continue in the future.

In the conference recommendations, the scholars unanimously resolved that in the past many years, the region of South Asia has lagged behind in human and social development due to political, cultural and social conflicts, both in the nature of inter and intra-state, and which seriously hampered and created hurdles in the way of prosperity and progress of the region.

The conference endorsed its resolve that peace and harmony, instead of war and confrontation, provides windows of opportunity for developing the human potential of South Asian people and for asserting themselves as civilized people of the world.

Dr Zeino thanked national and international delegates of Turkey, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, England, Germany and Pakistan. She appreciated the efforts of Dr Mahboob Hussain and PU. She said that Pakistan was a peaceful country and the people of Pakistan were very loving. She assured that they would continue their cooperation with PU in the future.

Dr Mahboob Hussain said that in the conference 13 sessions were held in which around 60 subject specific research papers policy notes were presented. He said that the policy makers, stakeholders, scholars, researchers and students got a chance for a fruitful dialogue and discussions with one another. Later shields and certificates were distributed among the guests, participants and volunteers.