LAHORE: An international conference on “Migration and Displacement” began at the Government College University (GCU) Lahore on Tuesday under the auspices of GCU Political Science Department and Centre of China Studies.
Punjab Governor Malik Muhammad Rafique Rajwana was the chief guest for the three-day conference. The conference was also attended by 12 foreign speakers from China, Belgium, Nepal, Bulgaria and Tajikistan.
In his address, the governor said that there was no justification to ask Pakistan to ‘do more’ in the regional war against terrorism. He said, “We have been hosting and helping millions of Afghan refugees for the last many decades, even though we were also suffering the scourge of terrorism.” Our armed forces and law enforcement agencies fought very well to bring the activities of terrorist groups under control, he added.
Addressing members of the foreign delegation, he said that a negative perception was being created by the international media about Pakistan, which was wrong and unjustified. “We are a peaceful country with a huge potential for foreign investment and tourism. I hope you go back to your countries and tell your people the real story of Pakistan,” he said.
In his key note address, Professor Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi, an eminent political scientist and GCU alumni, said that migration was a major challenge to humanity and global efforts were needed to deal with it. “Influential nations have to play a greater role in this regard because most of the refugee problems are caused by international politics shaped by the ambitious global agenda of major world powers,” he added.
Hasan Askari hoped that this conference would provide the much needed well-researched and well-documented information, data and analysis on why, how and in what manner refugees and human migrations have implications for domestic, regional and international politics.
GCU Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Hassan Amir Shah, while speaking on the occasion, said that migration had social, economic and political implications on host states. He said that episodic experiences of displacement certainly left a mark on the personality and psychology of refugees, and this area of study deserved serious academic investigation. He appreciated the efforts of the varsity’s political science department for hosting an international conference every year on highly important issues.
In his welcoming speech, the conference chairman Professor Dr Khalid Manzoor Butt said that according to a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) report, one in every 122 people was now either a refugee, internally displaced, or seeking asylum throughout in different countries of the globe. “If this were the population of a country, it would be the world’s 24th biggest,” he added.
Dr Khalid Manzoor said that Pakistan had suffered the most amongst the comity of nations due to migrations and had seen the two biggest migrations in human history, including the migration of millions of people in 1947 after the partition of the subcontinent, and again during the Afghan war in the 1980s.
“The Afghan migration posed serious challenges for Pakistan, and we are still passing through crisis on the national and international levels. The Afghan migration burdened our social structure for which we are still paying a price,” he added.
In addition to Afghanistan, he said that Pakistan had also received refugees from Burma, Myanmar, Bangladesh and some African countries.
Professor Khalid said that the theme of this conference was not only relevant for Pakistan but for the international community as well. “The conference seeks to explore economic, political and social dimensions of migration and displacement, covering a wide range of concerns of different stakeholders,” he added.
He hoped that scholars would shed light on the topic beyond the traditional parameters of academic discussions, and contribute towards formulation of methodological framework that must comprehend the phenomenon of displacement and migration within the context of regional and global political realities.
As many as 31 research papers are scheduled to be presented at the sixth technical session of the conference. This is the fifth international conference that the department of political science has arranged in the last five years.
