We are all Strong Believers and Advocates of Peace

Bayazeed Kasi, Central Joint Secretary, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Pakistan

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We are all Strong Believers and Advocates of Peace

Bayazeed Kasi, Central Joint Secretary, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Pakistan

Honourable speakers, Excellencies, ladies & gentlemen,

Nihao, Good Morning and Assalam o Alaikum

I feel privileged and am indebted to the Chinese People’s Association for Peace and Disarmament (CPAPD), People’s Government of Jiangsu Province and the United Nations system in China for being invited to this august and exclusive gathering of peace loving and peace promoting activists, experts and luminaries

The world over the past few decades has unfortunately got involved with unnecessary conflicts and wars which have eaten away millions of precious lives and damaged infrastructure amounting to billions of dollars.

These wars and conflicts have badly affected the direction and trajectory of human development as the direction of human race has been shifted from peace to war and from development to destruction and mayhem. Unfortunately, the power hungry leadership of some leading countries have revived the wars which ate away millions during the world war I and II. Perhaps, the human race has learnt nothing from the global conflicts and wars.

Unfortunately, the United Nation has also failed to play its due role to stop these conflicts and the powerful is given a license to kill at will.

In this age of global domination, as the world is fast shifting from unipolar to multipolarity, China has emerged as a Champion of Global Peace and Development. Despite being a developing country itself, China has chosen a path for itself to pursue for peaceful development.

China has been staunchly safeguarding world peace and promoting global development. Since the beginning of the new century, China has enthusiastically participated in international affairs, adding value to international relations.

Following the path of peaceful development, China has contributed to world peace and development, and worked with the rest of the international community to deal with various global and regional challenges.

As a founding member of the United Nations and a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China has always supported the UN to play a greater role in international affairs.

Over the years, China has become a major contributor to UN operations, undertaking an increasing number of tasks that include global peacekeeping, international humanitarian relief and escorting vessels in the high seas. If over 30,000 Chinese peacekeepers have served overseas since China started participating in peacekeeping missions in 1990, Pakistan has been the biggest contributor of peacekeeping under the UN umbrella.

Pakistan is also China’s natural partner in cause for global peace. Like China, Pakistan has been the biggest contributor to the United Nations Peacekeeping Efforts. Pakistan has been very active diplomatically since its inception. In the 50s and 60s Pakistan was a leading actor in the diplomacy accompanying the decolonization process at the United Nations and elsewhere.

Its commitment to multilateral diplomacy remained high: Pakistan has served seven times as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council and had committed 140,000 Pakistani troops to 41 U.N. missions in 23 countries since the 1960s.

The role being played by China in preventing wars in Syria, Yemen and Iraq have been complemented by Pakistan who being the leading Muslim power, holds influence in the Middle East nations. From Iran to Yemen, Pakistan has played linchpin role in peace.

Pakistan has transitioned from a crisis economy to a stable economy. Achieving stable, sustainable economic growth while mitigating social inequality is the priority of the newly elected government in Pakistan.

Increased regional stability could have a stabilizing effect for ongoing domestic efforts; hence Pakistan had committed itself to supporting the reconciliation effort in Afghanistan, and has been working along with China and other regional partners including the United States, Russia and Iran for sustainable peace in Afghanistan.

There is now a firm international consensus that this war has to end by a negotiated peace in Afghanistan as we have seen the limits of military action. The Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) composed of representatives from Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States and China had committed to undertaking efforts to promote a peace process in Afghanistan. This structure could have a benign impact on the speed of renewed diplomatic efforts.

Pakistan has also been working diligently toward normalization of relations with India. Pakistan remained committed to nuclear non-proliferation. It also accorded high priority to building regional cooperation.

Increased regional economic cooperation and connectivity could further contribute to the wider region’s stability.

With its nearly 200 million citizens and as the seventh most populous nation in the world Pakistan had a key role to play at the international level.

"If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner" - - Nelson Mandela.

ladies and gentlemen.

My name is Bayazeed Kasi and I am a citizen of the world.

We are all strong believers and advocates of peace. We are working towards the same goal here, If we combine all these efforts and work together we can build a strong and enduring culture of world peace.

Collaboration is the key for overcoming the complex challenges our world is facing today. Coming from a country which is constantly faced with violence and conflict which negatively impacts Pakistan’s social and economical development, I know that despite all the active efforts of the Pakistani government and its individuals peace is something that cannot be achieved alone. Its an enormous task.

To be honest I was quiet naive to the severity of the complex global conflicts and violence. I used to change the channel every time the news would come up related to terrorist attacks or wars. Although, I did have my sympathies with the victims, yet no passion to do something about it. This changed when it hit too close to home. On 8th August 2016 my beautiful city Quetta lost a generation of lawyers to a terrorist attack. More than 70 people were killed and around 130 injured. Out of these 70, 15 were close relatives. One being my maternal uncle. This changed my outlook on the situation, it made me think about the 1000s of war victims and gave me the passion to try and try to put a stop to all this. The thought of what my family went through still affects me and I wouldn’t want any one else to go through that phase. This incident made me more human than ever making this world my home and each individual my family, thus making me the citizen of the world.

I urge you all to help me protect my family.We all have a shared vision and ultimate goal of World Peace, effective partnership, synergy and positive collaborations can help us fulfill this vision. It will result in more funding, resources, knowledge, insight and expertise required to achieve this goal more efficiently.

The word peace comprises of five alphabets which can be taken as the Five Fingers of your hand together which can be a helping hand for assistance to a friend in need and a fist to knock down all the negativity around our world and safeguard it’s global stability and brotherhood.

As Winston Churchill said and I quote "If the human race wishes to have a prolonged and indefinite period of material prosperity, they have only got to behave in a peaceful and helpful way toward one another.

This is a slow process but I am hopeful that together it is achievable.

I would like to end this speech with one question: Are you a global citizen?

If yes, welcome to the family.