Accra, Ghana :- Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed became among the first Asians specially invited to address the first-ever historic African Political Parties Summit, hosted by Ghana, bringing together over 200 representatives from over 40 African countries. He was invited in his capacity as Co-Chairman of International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) and President of PAIDAR, Pakistan’s first think tank on Africa.
During his visit as guest of the Government of Ghana, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed met Vice President of Ghana, Jane Naana, Chief of Staff to President of Ghana, Julius Debrah, and Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Ebrahim Farah, among other leaders.
In his speech, Senator Mushahid talked about Pakistan’s consistent and principled policy of supporting African freedom struggles, including Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Eritrea, Somalia, South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe, plus Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. He also referred to the 1955 Bandung Conference hosted by Indonesian President Sukarno, which was co-sponsored by Pakistan, and which laid the basis of Afro-Asian solidarity.
Referring to his personal experience in Africa, he referred to his various visits to African countries including South Africa, Rwanda, Angola, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia, and his role as Information Minister of Pakistan, when he had the honour of serving as Minister-in-Waiting to President Nelson Mandela in May 1999 during the great African leader’s State Visit to Pakistan.
Senator Mushahid Hussain also introduced the Pakistan-Africa Institute of Development & Research (PAIDAR), Pakistan’s first think tank on Africa, which has now become the principal non-governmental platform to promote Pakistan-Africa relations.
He hailed the ‘Mandela Model’ of peace and reconciliation and termed it relevant for Asia as it presents a peaceful and democratic way forward. He said after his interactions with President Mandela, he was convinced that the ‘Mandela Model’ was key to stability as it had three major components. First, President Mandela was a strong believer in a policy of generosity, on a forgive-and-forget approach, so that societies and states could move on, with a forward looking approach. Second, the ‘Mandela Model’ rejected the politics of vengeance, vendetta and victimisation, as that meant being hostage to the past. Third, the ‘Mandela Model’ is based on inclusive and institutional democracy, seeing Public Office as a people’s trust, with voluntary exit from Presidency upon completion of his one elected term of office as President of South Africa. Most of Asia and Africa suffers from power-hungry politicians.
Mushahid also praised Mandela’s support for the causes of self determination of the people of Occupied Palestine and Occupied Kashmir, terming him as a principled statesman.
Finally, Senator Mushahid Hussain termed the 21st Century as the century of the resurgence of the Global South which includes Asia, Africa and Latin America. He also hailed Ghana’s first President, Kwame Nkrumah, as the leader of Pan African Unity, paying homage at his Mausoleum in Accra as he was also an architect of non alignment.
He assured African leaders that Pakistan-Africa relations would expand further in diplomacy, trade and investment, education and IT, as well as cooperation in mining and critical minerals.
During his visit, Senator Mushahid Hussain addressed the Pakistani community at Pakistan Day function and also met representatives of African think tanks, media and business leaders.
Sohail Majeed is a Special Correspondent at The Diplomatic Insight. He has twelve plus years of experience in journalism & reporting. He covers International Affairs, Diplomacy, UN, Sports, Climate Change, Economy, Technology, and Health.
