ISLAMABAD - On January 4, 1948, the Union of Burma gained its independence from Britain and emerged as a sovereign state, Republic of the Union of Myanmar. Myanmar, the second largest country in Southeast Asia, is seeking to project its influence in the region through ASEAN.
On the occasion of the 71st anniversary of independence of the Union of Myanmar, the ambassador Win Myint hosted a colourful event at a local hotel in Islamabad. Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Sahibzada Mehboob Sultan graced the event with his presence. The arrangement for the ceremony was up to the mark where all the guests were cordially welcomed. The event was attended by people from various walks of life including politicians, business community representatives, diplomats and media fraternity. The event began with Pakistan and Myanmar national anthems which were followed by a cake-cutting ceremony.
As witnessed, this was not a much-crowded event as compared to other diplomatic receptions in the capital; yet there was good number of ambassadors, especially from ASEAN, in the event. Out of a total of 10 ASEAN states, 7 have their embassies in Islamabad while the exceptions are Singapore, Laos and Cambodia. The 7 ambassadors of Association of South East Asia nations including Indonesia ambassador Dr Iwansuyudhie, Malaysian ambassador Ikram Ibrahhim, The Philippines ambassador Daniel R Espiritu, Thailand ambassador Pornpop Uampidhaya, Brunei ambassador Brig General (R) Dato Haji Mahmud Bin Haji Saidin, Vietnam ambassador Pham Hoang Tham, and Myanmar ambassador and Dean of Diplomatic Corp Atadjan Movlamov were seated on the stage.
I noticed that the ASEAN community is eminently socially integrated, not only in Pakistan but all over the world. The diplomats from the regional organisation regularly interact with each other and enjoy having regular meetings in Islamabad ASEAN Club which has been established especially for the purpose.
Many other regional organisations are working in the same manner but ASEAN is strongly bonded and is exceptional. It is a strong regional forum but Pakistan is not privileged to be a dialogue partner because of only one country which is not in favour of Pakistan and that’s Singapore.
The guests were indulged in a deep conversation particularly on national and International issues but Imran Khan’s visit to Turkey on invitation of President of the Republic of Turkey, RecepTayyip Erdogan, remained to be a hot potato. One of the diplomats said that the visit would further strengthen the existing economic, trade and commercial relations between the two countries. He added that current geopolitical challenges and financial crises had been bringing the two countries closer. He expressed high hopes in seeing further collaboration between the two nations to ensure regional peace and prosperity which would positively impact the whole world.
One participant was of the opinion that Pakistan had historical friendly and brotherly relations with China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and UAE and these relations were not personality-oriented but definitely persons place a vital role in strengthening these relations. All the previous presidents and prime ministers have played a vital role in this regard and now Imran khan is also working on the same line to boost the economical ties with these countries.
Amir Ahmed Ali, chief commissioner of Islamabad, has been given additional charge as chairman CDA. There was a big sigh of relief upon the news of his selection. Amir is a humble, honest, hard working and friendly civil servant who earned great reputation during his stint in Islamabad as deputy commissioner and member administration CDA. Many participants were of the view that this decision of Imran Khan and PTI would prove helpful in creating a positive image of the government as fair measures like these would bring improvement in the system and also corruption would be eliminated at grass-root level.
One of the diplomats congratulated the writer on victory of United Business Group in the recent FPCCI elections. I thanked and informed him that that was only possible because of the sincere and dedicated efforts of the businessmen’s leaders SM Munir and Iftikhar Ali Malik who hold great prestige and prominence among the business community which resulted in the victory of the UBG.
Malaysian Charge De Affairs Syed Nauzer Idid Bin Syed Yousoff Idid appreciated the recent visit of Imran Khan to Malaysia and said that it was a very successful visit. He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan was globally acclaimed as a fine cricketer and now as a politician too. He further said that Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad thanked his Pakistani counterpart for visiting Malaysia. He added that Dr Mahathir was confident that PM Imran Khan’s visit would spur greater cooperation and exchanges between Pakistan and Malaysia and people of both the countries, and our two regions. Pakistan and Malaysia were the first Muslim countries which have free trade agreement. ASEAN and European Union have a similar population which is around 500 million. Both the regional blocs have a lot of potential in achieving sustainable development goals owing to huge labour force, he said.
Pakistan and Myanmar have a very special relationship since Bahadur Shah Zafar (October 24, 1775-November 7, 1862), the last Mughal emperor of India who died in Rangoon in jailed exile by the British after 1856 war of independence. Being an excellent poet of Urdu himself, he described his tragic fate in the following couplet,
Kitna ha badnasib Zafar, Dafan k liye
Do gazz zamin b na mili ko-e-yaar main
Sahibzada Mehboob Sultan is a very kind and humble man. He is utilising his potential to improve export of food with other countries as per international best practices. On this occasion, he expressed warm wishes and congratulated Myanmar on behalf of the government and PM of Pakistan. He said that on 4th Jan, Myanmar gained independence and emerged as the sovereign state, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and the sacrifices of Myanmar people to achieve freedom of independence will never be forgotten. He said that Pakistan and Myanmar enjoyed good friendly relations and both governments were making sincere efforts to boost the bilateral ties where both sides have potential for cooperation in many fields from economic to cultural sectors. He extended his full support and cooperation in the field of food security and agriculture. He also affirmed that government wanted further advancement in our existing relations.
Myanmar ambassador Win Myint possessed a very calm disposition. He is a humble person and is true to his profession. He has loads of experience of working in various countries. I hope he will further strengthen the bilateral relations between Pakistan and Myanmar. He on this special day made a speech in which he highlighted Myanmar-Pakistan bilateral ties. He said that Myanmar and Pakistan enjoyed cordial relations rooted in history by helping and maintaining mutual understanding on each other in difficult times is older than our independence. He said that diplomatic relations between Myanmar and Pakistan were first established since independence and were later raised to embassy level in 1948.
The government of Pakistan operated its embassy in Yangon since 1949. Myanmar and Pakistan signed Treaty of Friendship on 25 June 1952, aiming at strengthening and promoting the bonds of friendship and widening the scope of co-operation. The treaty was ratified by both countries in 1953.The friendly relations between Myanmar and Pakistan are reflected by frequent exchange of visits between the two countries at state and other levels, he added. He hoped that two countries will be further strengthened by co-operation and mutual understanding in the years to come.
On focusing the importance of the day, he said that Myanmar lost its independence in November 1885 after fighting 3 wars. Due to the united efforts of all the nationals, Myanmar regained its independence and emerged as a sovereign state, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, on 4th January 1948.
He admired efforts of the architect of the independence General Aung San who claimed that only when the country practices the democratic system, there will be independence. Only that system ensures peace. Therefore, the government and the people are trying to build Myanmar to become a democratic nation.” He further quoted the statement of General Aung San that we cannot build a unitary state, meant only for one major national race. We must build a federal state, specifying the rights of each national race. To make Myanmar a modern and developed country, he said, the government is working to improve sectors such as administrative, legislative, judiciary, political affairs, and economic affairs during our transition to democracy.
–The writer is a freelance contributor.
Myanmar people are working with zeal for the national interests of the country and from this year forth and in the coming years there will be more good opportunities in the political, economic and social sectors, he added.
He further said that they believed that they would be able to overcome the crises by cooperating with the international community and the government and its people are determined to build a peaceful, modern, prosperous and genuine democratic federal republic which is the dream of the fathers of our independence and which is what our people desire.
