Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Foreign diplomats at a summit on Thursday welcomed the continuation of democratic process in Pakistan and praised the resilience of female voters in difficult circumstances.

They were speaking at the Center for Research and Security Studies’ (CRSS)’s flagship programme, Pakistan Center for Excellence (PACE), in Islamabad.

“Democracy cannot flourish without an economic agenda. You will not have democracy without prosperity. The public must have a well-aligned moral compass to fuel the social contract,” said German Ambassador Martin Kobler.

He was joined by the Australian High Commissioner Margaret Adamson, Danish Ambassador Rolf Holmboe, Dutch Deputy Head of Mission Josephine Frantzen and CRSS Executive Director Imtiaz Gul.

Holmboe added, “One cannot have prosperity without democracy, which builds on the principles of equality, diversity and tolerance.” Further, he told the audience that democracy was much more than elections; it is an interactive process, which goes beyond voting and everyone needs to continue participating, voice issues, exchange ideas and ensure accountability. This viewpoint was also shared by other speakers.

Adamson stated that role of Pakistan was very significant in the pursuit of global peace. She said that the empowerment of women was a pre-requisite for a strongly functional democracy, because half of the population, if disempowered, would only hurt a nation.

Frantzen, the deputy head of Mission of the Kingdom of Netherlands, said that the dynamics of world was changing fast in the contemporary times.

“We need to keep re-visiting our norms and values to accommodate the diversity. To understand this and the complex issues of the present-day like conflict between identity and integration, it requires a lot of dialogue and debate. This is where PACE comes in and great work has been done in this regard,” she added.

Towards the end, the crowd was presented with the accomplishments from five of the 630+ alumni of the PACE programme in promoting the idea of diversity, plurality, and multiculturalism.

Imtiaz Gul concluded by saying: “Teachers are the gatekeepers in any society and that teachers should work hard to invoke critical thinking in young minds.”

Published in Daily Times, August 3^rd 2018.