Great Britain, Great Debate

Fair & Square

Although all Excellencies are of high value and importance for Pakistan and Pakistanis, two of them, I mean envoys, carry yet stronger levers in their hands as compared with many others. 

One is Mr Sun Weidong, the Chinese envoy in Pakistan. Yes, he does have some more levers in his hands as compared with other ambassadors as he is not an ordinary ambassador but Ambassador Extraordinaire and Plenipotentiary. This shows the seriousness of purpose that China attaches to Pakistan’s growth and development projects including, of course, CPEC. By virtue of his designation, Mr Sun Weidong, is vested with the authority to transact business (agreements, MoUs etc included certainly). 

The other such envoy who too is equipped with something extraordinary, is Mr Thomas Drew, British High Commissioner to Pakistan as the title ‘CMG’ is suffixed to his name which itself denotes extraordinariness. This CMG stands for Companion of the order of St Michael and St George. In the past it would be conferred on army officers for chivalry whereas subsequently it is being conferred on outstanding diplomats. 

And now UK has taken a step that may restore its glory and render it Great Britain once again. It is the Great Debate initiative that the British High Commission took quite recently to promote talent among Pakistani youth. Of course, debate is one of the most enlightening ingredients of nation-building. This act of kindness on the part of British High Commission and British High Commissioner is highly commendable since it tends to educate our youth to ask questions. 

For years and years together, I’ve been teaching my Mass Communication students of Masters Classes at Punjab University and other institutions as how to frame questions. It is in framing questions and in asking questions that one learns and embarks on the near-perfection journey. 

Alas! We had learnt to ask questions decades back to come out of deadly stagnation that has continued to block our path of progress and growth.     

Reverting to UK, it is heartening to learn that, of late, an endeavour has been undertaken for building up a Global Britain (gone are the days of colonial global Britain… now in order to be global one has to learn how to live in a peaceful co-existence mode). 

It is in CPEC that UK is trying to be Great and Global through the peaceful co-existence way. Pakistan has already gone Global through this channel, thanks to the government of Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif that grasped the vision behind Chinese ‘mass connectivity’ philosophy quite farsightedly and now we are hearing that British International Trade Minister Greg Hands has hosted a trade roundtable in London the other day, to discuss the possibilities of joining CPEC. It was attended by the UK High Commissioner to Pakistan and the Pakistan HC to the UK as well as representatives of British firms, policy experts and Chinese officials. According to UK’s official sources, “The UK is poised to be a key partner in the CPEC”. And next month, UK would host a larger CPEC conference in Islamabad.

In this roundtable, Hands said: “As part of an outward looking Global Britain, we have a clear ambition to increase trade with both China and Pakistan and UK businesses are well-placed to capitalize on new opportunities in the region.”

….mianrehman1@gmail.com