The column this time is dedicated to Excellency Mr Thomas Drew CMG, the High Commissioner of UK in Pakistan. I am not doing any out of the way favour. I am, instead, acknowledging the sincere wishes and sentiments of affection expressed by British High Commissioner for Pakistanis. Even Pakistanis don’t recognize Pakistanis the way Mr Drew has recognized them, praising their hidden and express talent and abilities.
He has rather drawn a very nice picture of this marvelous country, Pakistan, and its moderate and progressive citizens. It has certainly boosted our image in the world of today where a word of realistic praise from such a high profile personage of the West means a lot.
There are a lot many words used by the High Commissioner for highlighting cordial ties between UK and Pakistan which are based on a mutually beneficial approach. I have, therefore, deemed it suitable to reproduce a large portion of the words uttered by Mr Drew in the remaining part of my column. He expressed these words while addressing the Oxford and Cambridge Trust in Islamabad some days back.
He said: “I am proud of my own connections with Pakistan, which extend for the last 11 of its 70 years. More important are the close connections of today. More than two per cent of the UK’s population now trace their roots back to Pakistan. Brits of Pakistani origin play a prominent role in the political, economic, sporting, academic and cultural fabric of the country. Last general election saw a record 12 Members of Parliament of Pakistani origin taking up their seats in the House of Commons. The links are being renewed at every generation.
“The 70th anniversary of Pakistan’s independence is an occasion both to remember the founding spirit and ideals of Pakistan, set out so eloquently by those two giants of the Independence movement – Mohammed Ali Jinnah and Sir Allama Mohammed Iqbal; and to celebrate the extraordinary links between the United Kingdom and Pakistan, links which Jinnah and Iqbal benefitted from in their own formative years, and of which they were both firm advocates.
“Both men shared a vision of an independent, democratic state with freedom of expression and religion, equality between men and women, and above all a country at peace with its neighbours.
“Few would deny that Pakistan has not always been able to live up to all of these lofty ideals over these first 70 years of its existence. It is perhaps not surprising that the international media coverage has not always been positive.
“There is, however, a huge amount to celebrate – particularly when you get to know the country as well as I feel privileged to have been able to do. For all the ups and downs of Pakistani politics, I still sense a much greater sense of political space for politicians to think about the real issues that will shape Pakistan’s future. The economy is on the rise. The number of terrorist incidents, though still too high, is on the decrease, and the tribal areas on the Afghan border are gradually being brought under central government control – something the British never attempted before 1947. Indeed the expulsion of Al-Qa’eda from these areas has had a significant positive impact on the security of the UK. More fundamentally, my long association with the country has left me with an enduring belief in the Pakistani people – that their overwhelming moderation based on Sufi traditions of Islam, will defeat the small minority who promote more extremist ideologies.
“I will go one step further: UK’s focus today is much better described as ‘helping Pakistan to unleash its potential’. It is a much more positive vision. It is good in its own right for Pakistan. It is, in my view, the best guarantor of the UK’s defensive interests. And most importantly, particularly in the post-Brexit world, the UK and Pakistan can benefit from each other’s economic success.
“In our view, that potential is huge. Many people forget that Pakistan is the 6th most populous country in the world – and growing fast. If Punjab were a country, it would be the world’s 11th biggest. We don’t always think of Karachi, the world’s 6th biggest city, as in the same economic league as Shanghai, Mumbai or Sao Paolo. But we should. I predict that we will. And the ties that I described beforehand make us uniquely placed to work alongside Pakistan, and to benefit too from its success.
“I will highlight two areas. The first is education. With 60% of Pakistan’s population under 25, education (and particularly education for girls) is critical to Pakistan’s future. It is no coincidence that education is the biggest thing that we do here. The value of DFID’s investment in education to 2020 will be £800m. This is in addition to the excellent work of the British Council on schools, vocational training and universities.
“The second is regional connectivity. In trading terms, South Asia remains one of the least interconnected parts of the world. “Pakistan is at the geographical heart of Asia. India, with over a billion people lies less than 200 miles away from here to the East. To the West are Afghanistan and Iran, with a combined population of over 100 million. Further north are the energy rich states of Central Asia. Pakistan is the natural junction between all of these huge markets and the vast resources at their command and CPEC offers great potential to Pakistan.
“As I said, get it right, and the potential is huge. And the British Government is committed to helping Pakistan to unleash that full potential. We have a shared history, but more importantly a shared future. We share a joint vision of a peaceful, stable and prosperous Pakistan becoming once again the vibrant hub of trade and commerce that its geography and size demand. And our commitment to that ambition goes beyond rhetoric.
“As Pakistan’s economy grows, our bilateral relationship will increasingly focus on trading links. As Britain looks to develop its ambitious and confident global outlook, we shall be aiming to build ties with new friends, but also to reinforce our ties with longstanding friends and allies around the world, such as Pakistan. This suggests an even more dynamic bilateral relationship in the future, based on the twin pillars of trade and investment – as befits Pakistan’s location at the heart of Asia – to complement the already strong links between our two peoples.”
…. mianrehman1@gmail.com
