Khalid Chaudhry

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PAC New President Address to the US-Pakistan Friendship Conference

KHALID LUQMAN CHAUDHRY

Dr. Khalid Luqman Chaudhry

(InformPress.com) – Dear country men & women, colleagues in the Pakistani American Congress (PAC) and my journalist friends, Asalam-o-Alaikum!

First of all, I want to express my appreciation and admiration for all former presidents of the PAC for all of your efforts on behalf of our organization and for keeping its tradition of organizing the PAC US-Pakistan Friendship Day Conference at the Capitol Hill alive and well. I am sure that founders of the PAC envisioned it as a vibrant and credible representation of the aspirations of the Pakistani-American community. You did your work well and I salute you for that. Secondly, I want to thank the PAC member organizations whose participation really provided the opportunity for PAC to flourish and prosper. Also, thanks to all directors and supporters of PAC whose presence in the PAC programs made it what it is today. Finally, we all owe a great appreciation to the Pakistani-American media who cover all the PAC events and broadcast or publish the PAC news from Washington DC to California, and from New York to Pakistan.

Now let us come to the newly elected executives whose two years term in this prestigious organization starts today. My friends, the test of our resolve, our ability and our sincerity to the cause starts today: the cause which is much bigger than ourselves, our egos and our attitude.

Ladies and Gentlemen, our cause and our mission is strengthening the Pakistani American community and helping develop close Pakistan-USA relations. My friends, it is not an easy time right now, when the Pakistan-US relationship has regressed to such a low level. But as the people say: “Where there is a will, there is a way.” The will is there and with the help of my colleagues, the new PAC cabinet, with the guidance from our senior executives, will make the way. But first we have to make our organization much stronger by clarifying its objectives.

Our number one priority is twofold. We must make PAC a representative association of the entire Pakistani American community in a very real sense and relevant to addressing the critical issues that we, as Pakistani-Americans, face today. Here is how we will achieve this – I myself have some positive ideas which I will highlight. Some of them are operational changes and some of them need constitutional overview:

1. Building a strong bond between PAC and its member organizations. Following steps will be taken to make PAC more relevant to them:

(A) Participate in all programs of every individual member organization upon receiving the official invitation from them.
(B) Promote the PAC member organizations via the PAC website by inserting organization information including the photographs of the directors belonging to those particular organizations.
(C) Displaying their official activities and programs in the PAC website.
(D) Linking the PAC member organizations’ websites to the PAC website.

2. Establishing a women’s chapter in the PAC:

The Pakistani American Congress has always been a male-controlled entity. We need to reach out to Pakistani-American women and invite them to the PAC so that it becomes a more competitive, challenging and inclusive organization. The future of Pakistan depends upon the involvement of all of its citizens – men and women.

3. Establishing a political action committee in the PAC, something that I may be permitted to refer to as “PAC-PAC”:

The aims of PAC-PAC should be to bring Pakistani-Americans into the US political system to advance our political goals. It is very important for us to develop our political influence among the US legislators. If we are strong enough, we can ultimately use our power to work to establish and support new governments in Pakistan that are free of corruption or favoritism. The Pakistan economy needs transparent governance to grow and flourish. Pakistani workers have the will and the ability to produce a vibrant economy. We must work to rid any illegal burdens that hold back economic growth.

4. Appointing liaisons to work with the US Congress and the US State Department:

Our goal is to have contact people from the PAC, as our voices and ears, working with Members of the US Congress on a consistent basis, especially in our own Congressional districts, and the US State Department officials who are involved with policy-making regarding Pakistan.

5. Creating a PAC Think-Tank:

An important aspect of the PAC is our own continuing education and openness to new ideas and strategies. To develop this PAC Think-Tank, we will reach out to thinkers, the heads of Pakistani chairs in American universities and geopolitical strategists who can help us develop strategies for better Pakistan-US relations.

The above areas are operations oriented where I intend to put my strongest efforts as my two years term in the PAC President’s office begins today. By moving forward for these goals, and achieving all that we can, we will make the PAC a strong, viable bridge between the USA and Pakistan, and the result will be improved conditions for our fellow country men & women.

PAC Constitution Review Committee:

It is my firm belief that the time has come to initiate changes to the structure of our organization. So I am proposing to amend the PAC Constitution. I call for a PAC Constitution review committee which will make a report recommending necessary changes in the PAC Constitution. I take pride in announcing that Dr. Riaz Ahmad, Dr. Ashraf Abbasi and Dr. Khawja Ashraf will take part in this committee. Dr. Riaz will be the Chairman of this committee. I have requested that the committee members present their report within one month by 21 July 2011. The committee’s main emphasis should be to make the PAC structurally and financially a very strong organization.

Note: Dr. Khalid Luqman Chaudhry, President, Pakistani American Congress (PAC), delivered this speech on 21 June 2011 during the PAC 19th US-Pakistan Friendship Conference held at the Rayburn House Office Building, Room 318, in Washington DC, USA.

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