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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Australia Celebrate Jashn-e-Azadi in Sydney

(Coverage By: Syed Zafar Hussain, Editor-in-Chief Sada-e-Watan Sydney)

A bunch of young people with passion, determination and just a little bit of time once they decide to sacrifice some sleep and some entertainment time. That is how some typical baby-boomer expert Pakistani from Sydney would have described them. But like in any other field, due to the undying efforts and strong motivation, these youngsters who make up the working team of PTI Australia in Sydney have celebrated Pakistan’s 62nd Independence anniversary with great national pride and fervour as witnessed by all who attended and heard by all who missed out.

The planning started with the team wanting to celebrate the day on its deserved date, August the 14th which was a Friday. Friday night was chosen as a feasible time for all our beloved Pakistani brothers and sisters to come join in the festivities and to share the message of Pakistan, Pakistaniat and how Pakistan needs all of us to stand up and strive for her progress, irrespective of political affiliations but with an emphasis on how Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf aspires to achieve its objectives with Transparency, Justice, Self esteem and Humanity.

The tickets for the event were sold out quite fast and there was a line up to get into the venue which was encouraging for PTI as a relatively new Chapter still in its infancy stage in Sydney and Australia. For such a new working committee, PTI Australia has achieved a lot more than most of our counterparts in other parts of the world. This function was the biggest event arranged under the PTI banner in Australia to date after Imran Khan’s visit in October last year.

The function commenced with the General Secretary Mr.Farhan Arif welcoming the guests officially but shortly with a supplication for Allah to have His divine blessings upon us all and Pakistan as a nation, after which the Master of ceremony Mr. Salik Hameed Khawaja took charge. Recitation of Surah Ar-Rahman followed by translations in Urdu and English was performed by Hafiz Gulzar Ahmed. This was followed by Naat-e-Rasool-Maqbool SAW performed by Syed Irfan Shah Bukhari. Naat was very heart warming and soulstirring and got the audience into a sublime state. The Australian national Anthem “Advance Australia fair” was then sung by the guests and hosts alike, followed by a very patriotically sung “Pak Sarzameen Shaad-baad”. The Audience stood with utmost respect through both the anthems and then kept standing for the “Dua-e-Khusoosi”- Special prayers and supplications for the progress, solidarity, unity and eternal pride of Pakistan and for our brethren in need around the world. The guests and audience included university lecturers, researchers, professionals from a diversity of fields, book authors, athletes of notable recognition in Sydney, Lawyers and representatives of different cultural organisations. Members of the media had especially been summoned to attend the function by PTI by reserving tickets for them.

Mr.Salik Hameed Khawaja – An urdu-daan by any definition of the word was very eloquent, precise and highly impressive in his speech, whether it is prose or poem. His heart-warming poems kept the guests very amused and the youth very motivated.

The mantle was then passed on to our honourable speakers in that they were introduced one by one by the General Secretary and they pointed out their experiences in speeches and also by reading from their own writings for which they were recognised.

First guest in this regard was renowned writer, director and producer of the movie “Son of a Lion” - Mr.Benjamin Gilmour who read from his book “Warrior Poets”. We were really honoured to have him there just on the personal request of a friend, to which he kindly obliged saying he was keen to attend the ceremony since he has been inspired by what Imran Khan stands for.

Second guest was Ms.Karen Collier who is a member of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Australia in Sydney and is a very active researcher on Pakistan since her initial paper titled “Why Pakistan needs Imran Khan” under the Department of Peace and Conflict studies at University of Sydney in which she has focussed on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s work in regards to the Peace with Justice theory. She talked in detail about her motivations and how she is inspired by the Pakistanis around her in the PTI Chapter. She has found the people of this nation the strongest and most resilient in the face of any hardship. It was a tribute to Pakistan, Pakistanis and an eye-opener for many of us who consider ourselves Pakistan lovers. We are proud to have members of her calibre in our midst.

In his Presidential speech, the President of PTI Australia in Sydney, Mr.Mehmood Ahmed Chadhar emphasised the spirit of freedom and how we need to achieve much more than just symbolic territorial self-determination. He urged the youngsters to come forward with their education, their skills and determination by saying “the time for drawing room discussions is over and now we have to do something, especially the youth. Before criticising Musharraf or Zardari, analyse and question yourself 'What have I done for Pakistan? If I have done something, is it really enough? Would we like to give a country to our future generations which lacked economic, educational and social justice? If our answer is no, then we should all join a platform which can help us achieve our objectives and that platform is no other than PTI in the current scenario”

This was followed by a really motivated speech by Mrs. Kiran Saleem, another member of the PTI chapter in Sydney who pointed out her recent observations about Pakistan, about the hopes from the youth and the educated, about the power cuts and the social and economic plagues that inflict us and how we all need to not just talk but take some steps to alleviate the conditions of our beloved Pakistan.

The President of the Pukhtoon Association of Australia Mr. Shafqat Nangyal was another of our guests of honour. Despite having problems with his vocal cords, he was able to speak his heart out about the sorry state that Pakistan is in, and how we all need to learn from the experiences of our past and take pertinent steps to embark on a brighter, more just, more unified journey for Pakistan. His message was of hope, of determination and most importantly of unity and his praise for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in achieving all of these was clear.

A Stand-up comedy performance was given by our guest from Melbourne Mr. Nadeem Iftakhar. The crowd loved his clever play on words and how he criticised the saddest of our national tragedies under the cover of humour for the people to take lessons with them for the future. This was followed by mellow music from the talented and locally very famous Mr. Riaz Shah and Mr.Raja Taseer, who performed while the crowd got mesmerised by their tunes. The delicious food provided by Himalaya restaurant in Granville added to the occasion while our talented co-host Ms. Irum Ali conducted a round-the-hall trivia Quiz session in which many youngsters impressed us with their depth of knowledge about Pakistan’s history, geography, sports and other general knowledge.

As guests and guest speakers started to leave, the pats on the back, the warmth of the embrace and the firmness of the handshakes were the best indication of how well the team arranged this event. Words of praise from the pioneers of Pakistani community associations and other scholars of note were very encouraging. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Australia will keep striving to spread the message and to create the groundwork for the Movement for a Justice revolution to take place in Pakistan one day. Well done team PTI Australia!!!

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