President Arif Alvi on Monday urged the Overseas Pakistanis to maintain close and strong connections with the people of the areas of their origin, and through their intellect, expertise, experiences, and investments uplift the social, economic and financial outlook of their areas.
He said that expatriates should take steps to improve Pakistan’s image and highlight the human rights violations in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and the persecution of minorities in India in their host countries.
The president expressed these views while talking to a delegation of eminent UK and US-based Pakistani expatriates, at Aiwan-e-Sadr, President Secretariat Press Wing said in a press release.
The President termed the Pakistani diaspora around the world a great asset who were contributing with their hard work, knowledge and intellect to the progress and prosperity of their host countries.
He also expressed his concern over media reports of the brain drain of over 700,000 educated and skilled human resources abroad in the last few months.
The president said that although Pakistan was facing difficult economic and financial situations but they were surmountable.
He said Pakistan was on the right track in empowering women and differently-abled people, providing patronage to orphans, and shifting its focus from curative treatment of diseases, which was expensive and unaffordable, to preventive mode of treatment which would help ensure health at a minimal cost.
He said that the recent war in Ukraine had brought to light the incidents of discrimination in the treatment of refugees. The refugees from Ukraine were being welcomed by the EU countries whereas the refugees from other parts of the world were expelled and allowed to be drowned in the sea, he opined.
The delegation included amongst others Lord Qurban Hussain, Lord Wajid Khan, Imran Hussain, Yasmin Dar, Kamran Hussain, Arshad Rachyal, Raja Najabat Hussain, Majid Nazir, Aaman Majid, Hammas Majid, Tahira Mohammad, Nawab-ud-Din, Syed Ali Kamran Kirmani, Shakoor Ahmed, Naqash Mushtaq Diwan, Sherbaz Munir Choudhary, Mehfooz Ullah, Sharafat Ullah, Sajid Khan, Nadeem Ahmed Khan, Brig (r) Iftikhar Ali Khan, Afzal Butt, and the leadership of the Khubaib Foundation.
