Press Release - 20 August 2008

President Pervez Musharraf’s Departure

There are almost a million people living in Britain who originate from Pakistan. For obvious reasons we keep a close eye on what happens there economically, socially and politically.

How Pakistan is perceived by the outside world has huge implications for both the social and economic advancement of all members of this community in the UK.

We sincerely hope that President Pervez Musharraf’s departure opens a fresh chapter for a proud and emerging nation and that it can signal a new era of peace and stability. This is vital.

The new people at the helm must now get on with the important and challenging job of governing a country beset by huge social, health and economic hurdles. They must tackle poverty, which according to a recent Asian Development Bank report is now actually worse than it was ten years ago.

Food inflation running at 20 per cent is causing extreme hardship especially for the old, the young and the vulnerable. Malnutrition is a major enemy. The figures speak for themselves. Last year it caused the deaths of 420,000 children under five. According to UNICEF, 38 per cent of all children are underweight, 37 per cent are stunted and 13 per cent are wasted.

Unemployment amongst the young is catastrophically high. Inflation is running at a crippling 25 per cent and the list goes on.

Add to that a humanitarian crisis unfolding in Baujaur on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Fighting between the Pakistani army and militants has caused “a human tide” of more than 200,000 people in recent weeks with the provincial government setting up refugee camps for tens of thousands.

As members of the British Pakistani community we are always anxious and eager to help Pakistan in any positive ways we can even though we are separated by thousands of miles. While each of us has individual ideas, hopes and fears for the country’s future, the one sentiment which unites each and every one of us is our over-riding wish for lasting political stability and lasting harmony.