Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani on Wednesday said the forces of Western imperialism had always destabilised those world leaders who stood for national interest, welfare of their people and resisted against the hegemony of super powers.

He was chairing a memorial seminar on Wednesday to pay tribute to the great Cuban hero and revolutionary leader Fidel Castro at the Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services (PIPS).

The seminar was organised by the Pak-Cuba Parliamentary Friendship Group of Pakistan, and attended by president of the group Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, Cuban Ambassador Gabriel Tiel Capote, parliamentarians, diplomats and people from different walks of life.

Paying tribute to Castro, Rabbani said that his three leading lessons – resilience against super powers, safeguarding national interest and welfare of masses – would prove to be the model of change for the world. “Our resources were exploited by colonial powers in the past and are being taken away even today by the forces of Western imperialism.”

He said that Pakistani nation felt the pain of Cuban people who not only lost a great leader but also a father, friend and comrade who changed their lives.

The Senate chairman said that the Cuban leader was a ray of hope for the poor, who gave a direction to the suppressed, downtrodden and exploited people to live their life with dignity and fight for their rights rather than giving up before unjust supremacy.

He said that this was the first memorial in the honour of Fidel Castro in Pakistan and in the Muslim world. He suggested the Cubans to make this grief their strength to continue the determination and resilience of the great revolutionary leader, who was the last one among the leaders who changed the world with the principles and ideology.

Castro was against the United States imperialism, as he represented his own people and did not become the part and parcel of the forces of imperialism, he said. He said that all the great leaders, including Jamal Abdul Nasir and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, had a thread running common among them – that they were destabilised by the US imperialism.

He said that colonialism had exploited our resources, so was the case today, when our resources were being taken away as interest in the guise of loans and assistance of non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

“Fidel Castro knew the ingredients of the resilience and taught us how to look into the eyes of the super powers. He represented the thinking of oppressed and suppressed people around the world, he said. “The Western imperialism is afraid of what Fidel Castro represented, and fear that the legacy of the colonialism and power of imperialism will wither away if the people stand up for their rights.”

Rabbani said that white racism was emerging in the West as a new force. He said that in Pakistan’s context, the only paradigm shift and counter-narrative that could succeed against terrorism was the rule of law based on representation of the people, as envisaged by Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in his first speech to the constituent assembly. However, we see five applications of the law for different segment of society in our country, he said. “We should learn from the philosophy of Fidel Castro, which was based on resistance against hegemony of super powers, keeping the national interest supreme and the welfare of the masses.”

Speaking on the occasion, Cuban Ambassador to Pakistan Gabriel Tiel said that Cuba and Pakistan were true friends who stood with each other in every difficult time. He said the people of Cuba did not consider the great leader Fidel Castro a past, as “he still lives in their hearts”.

He said that Castro changed the world through his deeds and gave an ideology to the masses to live their life with dignity.

In his welcome address, Pak-Cuba Parliamentary Friendship Group President Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed stated that Fidel Castro was a role model in revolutionary struggles.

Castro’s revolution was based on an effective foreign policy resisting foreign invasions, Cuban nationalism through welfare of the masses and comprehensive health facilities, which were rare in the Third World countries, he said.

“These basic parameters opened new ways for the great Cuban Revolution, which changed the life of the entire nation and put them on the way of progress and prosperity.”

He said that there were three major revolutions in the world – the Russian Revolution that had long effects on Europe; the Chinese Revolution that changed Asia; and the Iranian Revolution that had deep roots in the Muslim world – but the Cuban Revolution gave direction to the people of Latin America and inspired the entire Third World.

He acknowledged the Cuban government’s kind gesture of offering 1,200 scholarships to Pakistani doctors and said that Pakistan was also grateful to the Cuban government for their medical help in any calamity, as the Cuban medical squad had always played a leading role in voluntary services.

Senator Shibli Faraz while speaking in Spanish said that “we should all pay a rich tribute” to the greatest icon of revolution that the world has witnessed.

He said that the “romance associated with the great Cuban leader” was that his ideology represented the thinking of the oppressed and the suppressed across the globe.

He said that the support extended by Cuba during the earthquake was remarkable. He said that Fidel Castro had taught a common man and the nation how to live with honour and dignitary.