The way forward: Warsi asks the youth to step up

UK Cabinet Minister and Chairperson Conservative Party part of interactive dialogue with youth parliamentarians.

ISLAMABAD: British Council organised an interactive dialogue between the youth parliamentarians of Pakistan and UK Cabinet Minister and Chairperson Conservative Party Saeeda Warsi on Tuesday. Several issues related to the economy, youth and opportunities were discussed in the gathering.

Students from various universities, including Quaid-e-Azam University, Fatima Jinnah Women University, FAST and others got an opportunity to discuss their queries with Warsi and local politicians Marvi Memon and Khurram Dastgir directly.

Warsi said that she was honoured to be with the youth parliament and active citizens who are striving to address various issues, ‘as prosperity is all about securing the future’. “Creating enough jobs for Pakistan’s rapidly growing population, building the workforce of tomorrow and providing them with the right skills and education for future needs is the real solution,” she said.

She spoke to the participants about the importance of youth and the economic empowerment of young people. “We need to establish connections to capitalise on the imagination and ideas of Pakistan’s youth.  Young people’s ideas need to be linked with their democratic representatives,” she added.

Warsi said that Pakistan’s growth this year is likely to be under three per cent, inflation had accelerated to 14.2 per cent and the deficit was growing, estimated to be between six to eight per cent of the Gross Domestic Product. She quoted the Finance Minister Hafeez Sheikh who had said that ‘Pakistan’s economy is on the verge of collapse’.

She suggested that Pakistan has to improve its revenue generation by stopping leakages and tackle inefficiency, cut out waste in the public sector, address corruption and reducing expenditure “Again, how you do this is a decision for your leaders,” she said to the students. Warsi said that United Kingdom was Pakistan’s second largest foreign investor, bringing money and jobs to the country.  “If Pakistan’s economy suffers, so do our investments. The UK is one of Pakistan’s largest trading partners so if Pakistan’s economy falters, our trade shrinks,” she said.

During the question answer session, the participants were eager to know from the parliamentarians the reasons for the disconnection of youth from reality. Memon elaborated that the youth of the country felt disconnected from the realities. “There is a difference with making the statements and seeing something being implemented efficiently. Execution of plans lacks in reality” she said.

As the discussion continued, various issues such as the vast difference in the education systems also came forward. Dastagir informed the participants that efforts were made in Punjab in the past to eliminate the O and A levels system but there were massive protests carried out against this. He further said, “The elite of Pakistan do not want to end the system.”

Dastagir informed the participants that the national language ‘Urdu’ must be promoted across the country.

Answering a question about the impact of British education system in Pakistan, Warsi said, “Urdu should surely remain the language of the masses but Pakistanis are lucky to have the privilege of learning English which is the international language,” she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 23^rd, 2011.