ISLAMABAD, JAN 19 : Chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani said that the forces of western imperialism have always destabilised those world leaders who stood for national interest, welfare of their people and resisted against the hegemony of the super powers.“Our resources were exploited by the colonial powers in the past and are being taken away even today by the forces of western imperialism,” Raza Rabbani said.Mian Raza Rabbani said that three leading lessons of Fidel Castro principles including resilience against super powers, safeguard national interest and welfare of masses would be the model of change for world.
Chairing a memorial seminar held here on Wednesday to pay tribute to the great hero of Cuban Nation and revolutionary leader Fidel Castro at Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services (PIPS), the chairman said that Pakistani nation felt pain of Cuban people who not only lost a great leader but also a father, friend and comrade who changed their lives.
The seminar was organized by Pak-Cuba Parliamentary Friendship Group of Pakistan ‘ at Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Studies (PIPS) attended by president of the group Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, Ambassador of Cuba Gabriel Tiel Capote, parliamentarians, diplomats and the people from different walks of life.
Chairman Senate said that the Cuban leader was a ray of hope for poor who gave a direction to suppressed, down trodden and exploited people to live their life with dignity and fight for their rights rather than giving up before their unjust supremacy.
He said that this is the first memorial in honour of Fidel Castro in Pakistan and in the Muslim World. He suggested the Cuban that they should make this grief their strength to continue the determination and resilience of the great revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, who was the last one among the leaders who change the world with the principles and ideology.
He 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 that the all the great leaders including Jamal Abdul Nasir and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto have a thread running common among them that they were destabilized by the US imperialism.
He said that colonialism exploited our resources so is the case even today when our resources are being taken away as interest in disguise of loans and assistance of the NGOs sectors. Fidel Castro knew the ingredients of the resilience taught us how to look into the eyes of the super powers and represented the thinking of oppressed and suppressed people around the world.
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. He said that white racism is emerging in the west as a new force.
He said that in Pakistan context the only paradigm shift and counter narrative that can succeed against terrorism is the rule of law based on representation of the people as envisaged by the father of the nation Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in his first speech to the Constituent Assembly. However, we are witness that there are five applications of the law for different segment of the society in our country.
He said that we should learn from philosophy of Fidel Castro which was based on resistance against hegemony of super powers, keeping the national interest supreme and the welfare of their masses.
Ambassador of Cuba to Pakistan, Gabriel Tiel expressed that Cuba and Pakistan are true friends who stood with each other in every difficult time. He said people of Cuba did not consider the great leader Fidel Castro as a past, he still lives in their hearts. He stated that Fidel changed the world through his deeds and gave an ideology to masses to live their life with dignity.
Presenting the welcome address, president of Pak-Cuba Parliamentary Friendship Group, Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed stated that Fidel Castro was role model in revolutionary struggles. His revolution was based on an affective foreign policy resisting foreign invasions, Cuban nationalism through welfare of the masses, comprehensive health facilities, which are rare in third world countries and a role model for the world as well as comprehensive education reforms.
These basic parameters opened news ways for the great Cuban revolution which changed the life of entire nation and put them on the way of progress and prosperity.
He shared that there were three major revolutions in the world including Russian revolution which have long affects on Europe, Chinese revolution which changed Asia while the third one was Iranian revolution which has deep roots on Muslim world, but the Cuban Revolution ‘ gave direction to the people of Latin America and inspired the entire Third World’.
He acknowledged Cuban government kind gesture of offering 1200 scholarships to Pakistani doctors, adding that, they are also grateful for their medical help in any natural calamity as the Cuban medical squad always played a leading role in voluntary services.
Senator Shibli Fraza while speaking in Spanish said that we should all pay a rich tribute to the greatest icon of revolution that world has witnessed. He said that the romance associated with the great Cuban leader is that his ideology is the representation of the thinking of oppressed and suppressed across the globe.
He said that the support extended by the Cuba during the earthquake was remarkable step in the cordial relation between the two countries. He said that Fidel Castro has taught a common man and the nation how to live with honour and dignitary.
Former Speaker National Assembly Syed Fakhar Imam said that the quality of the leadership that revolutionary leader Fidel Castro extended to the Cubans gave dignity to his nation and we are struggling to have such a leadership after death of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
