Youth delegation from Sindh to visit Gilgit-Baltistan
KARACHI: A 30-member delegation of youths from Sindh will soon visit Gilgit-Baltistan. This was announced by an official of the Sindh Department of Youth Affairs here on Saturday. He said that the Provincial Minister for Youth Affairs, Syed Faisal Ali Sabzwari, chaired a meeting at his office in which arrangements for the week-long visit were reviewed. Mr Sabzwari said that this is a part of the Inter-Provincial Youth Exchange Programme. He stated that the visits are aimed at fostering understanding and cohesion and help youngsters observe and understand the culture of the provinces and see historical and other places. The Minister said that from the next fiscal year various training and study projects are being initiated. He pointed out that attention is also being paid that employment opportunities are also being created for the youngsters.
Sindh Secretary Youth Affairs, Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui, said that Gilgit-Baltistan is a new province and we want that our youths should see and understand its culture, values and history. He said that the delegation would consist of those youngsters who have excelled in academic and other fields. Director Youth Affairs Sindh, Khurshid Ali Siddiqui, said that during the visit the youth delegation from Sindh would also meet the Governor and Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan. Source: Regional Times
It is a good gesture on part of the youth of Sindh to send a delegation to this newly formed province (our wish that this is truly so) which still needs constitutional provisions to be treated as the 6th province of Pakistan.
This visit can be instrumental for addressing the long sense of isolation of our youth from the mainstream political scene of the country. It will also provide an opportunity for our youth to interact with the them and take benefit for alignment of their future objectives.
The youth of the newly formed district Hunza-Nagar, which was hit by a natural disaster on the 4th January this year, are in great stress as they feel to be marginalized and isolated and such exchange visits may be of great help to convey their message to the youth of Sindh and the whole country.
I am sure this delegation will visit the Gojal Tehsil, where the whole population is stranded behind a monstrous artificial lack which is increasing minute by minute submerging homes, agricultural lands, commercial properties, community centers while the government is concentrating on a few hundred IDPs and is ignorant of the fact that a population of over 25000 people are struck with food shortages and emergency basic medical facilities.
The food stocks which they maintain is only sufficient up to the next crops, which is nearing exhaustion by now as many of them have already lost their fields and crops. The government is only making hollow claims and there is nothing on ground.
We hope that this delegation will see the ground realities and raise their voices for the people of Gojal.
I would urge the youth of Gilgit-Baltistan and especially Hunza-Nagar to welcome the delegation with our traditional hospitality so that a true linkage is developed on inter-provincial level.
Sher
Youth exchanges are very effective method of fostering realistic and positive understanding of a new cultures and society. Gilgit-Baltistan’s landscape and its society is opening up to the mainstream Pakistani society. we are going through an interesting stage of our transition, where we have to establish and maintain our distinct identity within the larger multi-ethnic and multicultural established Pakistani mainstream identity. it is crucial for Gilgit-Baltistan to have an identity that reflects our true strengths. Civil society and media are the key instruments in establishing that. I think this positive engagement of youth will help foster understanding and bridge the rift between various regional, cultural and social entities of our mainstream society, which caused by ignorance. It is a commendable effort from the Sind Govt. the kind of initiative that we expect of, coming from a sophisticated cosmopolitan segment of the Pakistani society.
I would urge the youth of Gilgit-Baltistan and especially biltista and gilgit peiples to welcome the delegation with our traditional hospitality so that a true linkage is developed on inter-provincial level..