ISTANBUL: Thirty-three parliaments of Asia, at the annual meeting of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) here in the historic Turkish city, unanimously elected Senator Mushahid Hussain as the vice president of APA.
He was also elected in-charge of Political Affairs Committee, and APA also decided that Pakistan will be the next president for two years, and requested the Senate of Pakistan to host the APA during 2020-21.
Thanking the parliamentary leaders of Asia, Senator Mushahid Hussain said that “Pakistan will continue to play a leadership role in the quest for an Asian parliament”, adding that among our founding fathers, the great poet Allama Iqbal had predicted the resurgence of Asia and the rise of China in his poetry over 80 years back.
The senator also presented the report of the special committee on the Asian parliament which was established by the Senate of Pakistan, under APA mandate.
In his speech to the APA plenary as leader of the Pakistani delegation, Senator Mushahid Hussain said that in accordance with the prediction of Allama Iqbal, the balance of economic and political power was shifting from the West to the East, and the Belt and Road Initiative of Chinese President Xi Jinping was the single most important diplomatic and developmental vision in the 21st century.
Referring to the Asian spirit of resilience of the people of Pakistan, Senator Mushahid Hussain termed Pakistan as a ‘robust and resilient democracy’, saying that “Pakistan has hosted the largest refugee population for the longest period and has also fought the longest and most successful inland war on terrorism, as the biggest victim of terrorism, suffering 70,000 casualties, including soldiers and civilians”.
The senator also met the prime minister of Turkey and the speakers of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Afghanistan and invited all of them, on behalf of Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, to the ‘Joint Meeting of Speakers of Parliament on Terrorism and Inter-Regional Connectivity’ in Islamabad on December 24-25, 2017.
He was also requested by the Turkish hosts to chair the plenary of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly.
