‘Those who admire Mandela must also work towards bringing
real democracy to Pakistan’. PHOTO: SHAFIQ MALIK/EXPRESS
The services and struggles of the late former South African president Nelson Mandela were eulogised in various events on Tuesday.
Members of the Anjuman Mazareen Punjab gathered for a candle vigil in front of the Press Club. They carried placards and demanded the government take immediate steps to ensure land property rights and justice.
The Umeed-e-Saher Foundation also held a seminar marking the Human Rights Day where the speakers paid tribute to Mandela’s efforts to promote global justice and peace.
“Mandela was a symbol of struggle against those who believed in the divide and rule policy that they had adopted from the Roman imperialists,” Writer Lal Khan said at a reference held at the SAFMA auditorium on Tuesday to celebrate the struggle of the late former South Africa president Nelson Mandela.
The participants were shown a documentary on the life and struggles of Nelson Mandela.
Writer Wajahat Masood said, “We are here to celebrate one of the best sons humanity has produced.” Mandela wanted equal rights for people regardless of religion, caste, creed and ethnicity, he said.
Masood said the message one got from Mandela’s struggle was that the fight for freedom and justice cannot be fought with guarantees.
Masood those in Pakistan who admire Mandela must also work to achieve real democracy in Pakistan, he said.”Real democracy is when decision making and legislation is carried out by public representatives,” said Masood.
“Mandela was not anti-imperialist, in fact he made peace with the imperialists to end the apartheid in his country,” former caretaker information minister Arif Nizami said.
He said that Mandela held no bitterness towards those he had fought for decades. “I witnessed the same qualities in Benazir Bhutto,” he said.
Nizami said Benazir and Zardari’s governments had been inspired by Mandela’s policy of reconciliation. “The present government, on the other hand, believes that reconciliation is the same as laying down weapons in front of the Taliban and not taking action against the terrorists in North Waziristan,” he said.
He said Mandela was a great admirer of Princess Diana and Nawaz Sharif.
Mandela was the only political figure who, during 60 years of his political struggle, spent 27 years in prison, he said.
Mandela was the first black president of South Africa. He fought against racial oppression and apartheid and spent 27 years of his life in prison. He breathed his last on December 5 and died at the age of 95.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 11th, 2013.
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"Madeeba" as he was popularly known, was a man who inspired the world, wherever there is a newspaper, a radio, a television, news media of any sort. "Madeeba's" name, his acts, his deeds, his vision, his words, were there for everyone to come to know. That here is a man who knows his place in the world, that he has a mission, and that he will not rest untill his mission is realized. His "send off" from this world, was a token of appreciation from those he left behind to carry on his mission. He had no small mission in mind, his was a mission that only the very bravest of the brave, the most enlightened amongst the enlightened, the most humble amongst the humble could envision and achieve. The world needs people who embody his vision, who are able to sacrifice, who can deliver and who in the end can pardon, who have no malice, who have no rancour, who have no hate to those who have harmed him and his fellow humans, this was not weakness on his part, this was wisdom of the highest order on his part, May the Allmighty rest his soul in peace, and may his life be a guiding spirit for all us.
Mandela’s life was the embodiment of the human spirit. His energy will uplift every corner of the globe which battles for equal rights for its citizens. Hopefully we may do his legacy justice by starting at home and empowering our citizens once again. I was compelled to pay homage to Nelson Mandela with my art by creating a portrait of the world leader In Memoriam at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2013/12/in-memoriam-nelson-mandela.html Drop by and let us know how his strength has inspired you!