PAKPAC Letter to PM Gilani on NCHD future

August 5^th, 2008

His Excellency,

Prime Minister of Pakistan,

Mr. Yousaf Raza Gilani

Islamabad, Pakistan.

Your Excellency,

As the only US federally registered advocacy organization of the Pakistani American Community, the Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee (PAKPAC) has remained active and engaged with the  legislators and administrators of both United States and Pakistan. We have and continue to strive for a long  term sustainable multidimensional relationship between Pakistan and United States.

We congratulate you in taking on an immense responsibility to address and manage the current challenging era for Pakistan, and for Pakistan-US relationship. We support the beginning of a new era where we hope that the policies and management of the Country would keep the interests of the people of Pakistan and their quality of life of prime importance. This issue remains of great concern to the Pakistani American community, as we as a committee representing the community have and continue to remain very engaged with our legislators here in the US. The Biden-Lugar plan that is being proposed in the US senate is part of these efforts.

I am writing this letter as a representative of PAKPAC after having a unanimous recommendation from the PAKPAC board members to share our concerns about a situation in Pakistan. We urge you to reconsider the proposed de-funding of the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) program. We believe that your government with the new democratic era in Pakistan has a huge stake in the educational, social and economic development assistance that NCHD is uniquely provided and continues to do so to the poorest areas of Pakistan.

According to first hand information that we have received from many independent  sources including international organizations and persons with long-time affiliation with Pakistan including  a former Congressional colleague, and members of the Pakistan-American community, the NCHD program is producing positive results in the fields of primary school education, adult literacy and family health especially prevention of infant mortality. This work has attracted prestigious awards and recognition from international agencies such as UNESCO, UNDP, UNICEF, The World Bank and the Bill Gates Foundation.

It is our understanding that NCHD is an award winning, first of its kind, public-private partnership established in Pakistan to achieve United Nations Millennium Development Goals to increase literacy, reduce poverty, and provide better access to basic healthcare. De-funding this organization at this critical juncture would stop the work of 87,000 employees and throw into question the following specific achievements gained from six years of work during which our information suggests that NCHD has:

1.      Completed over 121,000 Adult Literacy Centers in all districts of Pakistan, with 100,000 more centers to be opened over the next five years. To date 85% of the 2.68 million adults taught to read, clearly determined to help their families lead a better life, are female. This has not only helped the women but their entire families.

2.      Enrolled in village schools 8,235,000 children ages 5 to 7 (who would otherwise not be in school). NCHD has opened 22,000 feeder schools in remote areas and provides additional teachers for increased enrollment in Ministry of Education schools. NCHD has also provided 43,543 children with reading glasses.

3.      Trained over 12 million women to provide door to door primary healthcare assistance, e.g., ORS training which is credited with a large number of infants surviving who, without this help, would have perished.

4.      Mobilized over 300,000 local worker volunteers for various community-improvement projects at the grassroots level.

5.      Opened with the help of the Microsoft company sixteen computer learning centers in remote areas including Thatta and Badin in Sind Pakistan.

6.      Established a patient welfare center at each District Headquarters Hospital to provide free medicines, blood donations and transportation for sick or immobile patients.

It is our understanding that the above cited activities are monitored by Government of Pakistan officials and have been validated by periodic independent 3^rd party evaluation with results shared with international donors.

We at PAKPAC strongly believe and have stressed this to our Members of US Congress that the most effective long run antidote to extremism fed by hopelessness and alienation is hope-building, educational and socially uplifting programs. We feel that NCHD is just providing this in Pakistan’s historically neglected areas including FATA and NWFP areas.

We for the various above mentioned reasons respectfully request that the funding for NCHD’s vital work be continued.

Sincerely,

M. Saud Anwar MD, MPH, FCCP

President, Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee
PAKPAC

President@PAKPAC.NET

202 558 6404

CC: Ambassador Husain Haqqani, Ambassador of Pakistan to United States

MOVING UP: Assad Akhter promoted as Legislative Director for Rep. Bill Pascrell D-NJ. Akhter has worked as a legislative assistant for House Homeland Security Transportation Security Subcommittee Chairwoman Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, where he helped create the Congressional Pakistan Caucus. Akhter, 27, serves as the president of the Congressional Muslim Staff Association. Akhter got his start on Capitol Hill as a legislative fellow for former House Minority Whip David Bonior, D-Mich. Akhter landed the fellowship after his first internship in Washington for the Arab American Institute during his sophomore year of college. Akhter has also worked on other campaigns including special House elections in Kentucky and South Dakota, and for Reps. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., and Andre Carson, D-Ind., as they became the first and second Muslims to be elected to Congress. Akhter's parents -- his father works for the United Nations and his mother is a nuclear technologist -- are from Pakistan. Akhter, who was born in the United States, grew up in North Brunswick, N.J.

WELCOME     ABOARD

Engr Rahman Bhatti Joins PAKPAC Board:

Rahman Bhatti, born and raised in Punjab, Pakistan, graduated in 1967 from University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore.  He emigrated to the US in 1971 and began to work in Chicago.  In 1976, he married his wife, Najam, and moved to New Orleans, where he did his Masters in Engineering from Tulane University.  He later founded Rahman and Associates in 1986, currently a reputable engineering firm in the State of Louisiana.

Professionally, he has served as Chapter President and a member of the Board of Directors for the American Consulting Engineering Council (ACEC).  He has also been a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) since 1986, and in 2008 received a lifetime achievement award for outstanding work in his profession.  The Engineering News Record, a weekly journal, featured him for his work on the unique concept and design for safe room structures after Hurricane Katrina.  Also, he served on the Engineering Selection Board for the State of Louisiana.

In the community, Rahman founded and was active in the Pakistani Community Association for several years.  He is currently on the Board of Directors for the Jefferson Muslim Association.  He is the Chairman of the Construction Committee for an 8 million dollar project to build an Islamic Complex for greater new Orleans, which is currently under constriction.  Rahman has always been heavily involved in the political community at local, state, and federal levels, and has spearheaded many fundraisers for charitable events

Meet the PAKPAC Board of Directors