Call to let Insha Afsar represent Pakistan in the Para Olympics

BOSTON: Prominent activist and lawyer M. Jibran Nasir has urged the Pakistan government to allow the one-legged 14-year old skier Insha Afsar from Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir to represent the country in the Para Olympics.
He was addressing the 13th Annual Meeting of the Association of Pakistani Physicians of New England (APPNE), chapter of the Association of Pakistani Physicians of America (APPNA).Insha Afsar was also honoured at the well-attended event on Saturday in Boston. Prominent artist and philanthropist Jimmy Engineer who is in the USA on a private visit also attended the event and was appreciated.
Jimmy Engineer had also spoken along with Jibran Nasir and others at the April 16 Global Vigil event in Boston to commemorate the Dec 16, 2014 attack at the Peshawar Army Public School.
Insha Afsar lost a leg in the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and has the last five years been with a foster family in the USA. She is on the ski team of her private boarding school with two-legged skiers. In a recent competition, she was just three seconds behind the Bronze winner from the Sochi Para Olympics.
However, Pakistan does not compete in the games and she cannot compete from the US team unless she becomes an American citizen.“We should petition the Pakistan government to let Insha represent Pakistan in the Para Olympics. She doesn’t expect or demand special treatment,” said Nasir.
Presenting the keynote speech for which APPNE had invited him for his courage and efforts against violence in the name of religion, Jibran Nasir underscored the “extremism knows no religion”. He shared stories of his own journey in combating extremism, including in his own family.
He also unveiled the just-launched website Never Forget Pakistan(www.neverforgetpakistan.com) that has also been registered as a trust.The initiative, catalysed by the APS massacre, is an attempt to ‘reclaim Pakistan’ and is “dedicated to the children”, he said.
APPNE also presented Dr Scharukh Jalisi for excellence in the field of medicine, and journalist Beena Sarwar with a humanitarian award for her human rights work.Singer Farah Anwar entertained the gathering after dinner.