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Thursday March 28, 2024

Mushahid elected Vice President of Asian Parliamentary Assembly

By News Desk
November 24, 2017
ISTANBUL: As many as 33 Asian parliaments at the annual meeting of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) unanimously elected Senator Syed Mushahid Hussain as the Vice President of APA in charge of Political Affairs Committee and decided that Pakistan will be the next president of APA for two years. The organisation has also requested the Senate of Pakistan to host the APA during 2020-21.
Thanking the Asian parliamentary leaders, Senator Mushahid Hussain said that 'Pakistan will continue to play a leadership role in the quest for an Asian Parliament' adding 'among our founding fathers, the great poet Allama Iqbal had predicted the resurgence of Asia and the rise of China in his poetry over 80 years back'. He also presented the report of the Special Committee on the Asian Parliament established by the Senate of Pakistan, under the APA mandate.
Mushahid said that 'in accordance with the prediction of Allama Iqbal, the balance of economic and political power is shifting from the west to the east, and the Belt and Road Initiative of Chinese President Xi Jinping is the single most important diplomatic and developmental vision of the 21st century'.
Referring to the 'Asian spirit of resilience of the people of Pakistan', Mushahid termed Pakistan as a 'robust and resilient democracy', saying that 'Pakistan has hosted the largest refugee population for the longest period and Pakistan has also fought the longest and the most successful inland war on terrorism, as the biggest victim of terrorism, suffering 70,000 casualties, soldiers and civilians'.
The senator also met the prime minister of Turkey as well as the speakers of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Afghanistan and invited all of them, on behalf of the Speaker of National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, to the 'Joint Meeting of Speakers of Parliament on Terrorism and Inter-Regional Connectivity' in Islamabad from December 24-25, 2017.
Mushahid Hussain was also requested by the Turkish hosts to chair the plenary of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly.