War on terror is now ours: Sayeeda Warsi

Lahore: Former British Cabinet member and member of House of Lords Baroness Sayeeda Warsi has said that the war against terrorism was not ours in the past but it has now become our war because Pakistan’s sacrifices in this war are far greater than any other country’s in the world.

She was addressing a highly charged and huge gathering of students and teachers at Punjab University’s Faisal Auditorium here on Monday. PU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran presided over the ceremony while Mrs Warsi’s husband Iftikhar Azam and people from various walks of life were present on the occasion.

Addressing the participants, Baroness Warsi said that Pakistan had taken some decisions a few years ago because of which it was facing the consequences. She said that Kashmir issue was resolvable through dialogue and they could provide support in this regard. She said that Pakistan’s foreign policy should be in accordance with public interest. She said that the rulers while taking policy decision should remember the mandate of their voters. She urged Pakistani politicians to make efforts for becoming a leader instead of seeking leadership positions.

She said that she would not take part in Pakistani politics as there was a lot of work to do for the welfare of Pakistanis in Britain. She said that the people who wanted to see change must bring change to their individual life first. She said that our country came into existence in the name of Islam but the lesson of equality and respect for women was unfortunately missing in Pakistan. She said that there was no system which could eliminate the grievances of victims.

She said that she did politics of principles in UK and that’s why she resigned from the ministry in a protest against Israel’s ruthless attack on Gaza as no mother could see children being killed. She said that she informed the British prime minister that Israel was committing serious violations of human rights and if we believe in international justice, we must not adopt double standard on the issue. She said that the incident of 9/11 changed her life and she entered into politics.

She said that even in the British society she faced challenges for “being a woman” but at last she got success. She advised the students do whatever they wanted to but with principles, honesty, bravery and commitment. She said that Pakistani youth was facing a lot of challenges but it had the capacity to cope with all.

Addressing the ceremony, PU VC Dr Mujahid Kamran said that the world was encountering two biggest problems i.e. the US and most of powerful Western governments were under the control of world’s financial elite because of concentration of wealth while around 1.5 billion Muslims had almost no share in creation of new knowledge. He called upon the rulers to allocate at least 4 percent of GDP to education and gradually allocate 1 percent to research and development.

Later, a question-answer session was held in which students participated enthusiastically.