Germany stands by Pakistan in its efforts for peace

Islamabad : “Stop building the walls because those never last long and come down eventually. Instead, reach out and sort out the differences, if there are any, remove the hurdles and make the world a better place for the generations to come,” said the Ambassador of the Republic of Germany, Martin Kobler.

He was speaking at a reception he hosted to celebrate the ‘Day of German Unity’ at his residence on Wednesday evening. It was on November 9, 1989 that the ‘Berlin Wall’, dividing Germany into ‘East’ and the ‘West’ Germanys came tumbling down after a long political and diplomatic struggle and it was the 3rd of October of the year 1990 that the ‘Unification Process’ of the Republic of Germany was formally completed.

“Europe fought two great wars. The first World War and the second World War in which millions of people perished. Our last generations lived and died fighting those wars. And look where Europe stands today! We are friends with the one time foes, France and the England. Europe is united today and we are friends with the whole world now,” said Mr Kobler in his speech, which sounded more passionate and political then the one delivered by a diplomat!

There were moments that one felt as if he was addressing to the issues existing between the countries of South Asia!

The German envoy quoted almost a whole paragraph from the speech delivered by Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, in the UN General Assembly and was profuse in his praise for what Foreign Minister Qureshi has said.

On the other hand, Mr Kobler displayed the humane side of his personality when he invited the blind and deaf students and a special person from Wah Cantt and Taxila as his special guests at the reception. They were the students, boys and girls, from ‘Baseerat School for Blind’ located in Wah Cantt.

And everybody loved them when these blind and deaf children, led by their Administrator of the school, Jameel Arshad, presented the German and Pakistani national anthems with the blinds singing and the deaf following with the sign language.

Mr Kobler once again mentioned he desire to take relations with Pakistan to higher levels, particularly he seemed more interested in dealing with the Imran Khan led PTI government.

“Last year, speaking on this same occasion I expressed my desire to bring ‘Lufthansa’, (the German airline) coming directly to Pakistan. However, I have not been successful in fulfilling that desire as yet. But I am not giving up on that and would continue to make efforts to convince them (Lufthansa) to resume their flights for Islamabad and other cities in Pakistan,” the German envoy said.

There were two Ministers present at the reception, representing Pakistan Government, the Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping, Syed Ali Haider Zaidi and the Minister of State for Interior, Shehryar Afridi.

Both the Ministers, while speaking on behalf of the Government of Pakistan extended greetings to the German government and the people over the celebrations and expressed the hope of improving relations between the two countries.

The Minister for Ports and Shipping invited the German Ambassador to Karachi and offered to take him on a boat and fishing trip. On the other hand Shehryar Afridi delivered a speech expressing the desire to make Pakistan a better country and never falling short to make any sacrifice to achieve the target.

It was a largely attended reception indeed and probably all the heads of diplomatic missions were present to join the Germans in their celebrations. There was the presence of the representatives from Foreign Office, the Pakistan Armed Forces, civilian elite and the representatives of business community.

Yassir Nauman brought in a group of musicians to entertain the guests with live music. Among the performers were renowned violinist Ustad Raees Ahmed, Salman Adil on flute, Akbar Khamesoo Khan on Alghoza, Hamza Khan on rubab and Ustad Ejaz Hussain alias Ustad Jaji on table. Their performance was enjoyed and well appreciated the guests.