PAKPAC Board of Directors in a meeting on March 11^th, 2008 unanimously made some important changes in the organization’s Bylaws. PAKPAC has been an important voice which has adapted over time to address the changing needs of the time. To learn about some of the accomplishments please see link. To learn about public positions and press releases, please see the link. The recent communications of the organizations may help people assess the issues, work and focus.  

As the challenges of our community continue to increase, there is a critical need for our community as a whole and all its component organizations to stand up to these critical times. While the past structure of PAKPAC has served the past needs of the advocacy efforts of the community, but with the mounting local challenges within the United States and the ongoing instability in Pakistan the mandate and the structure of PAKPAC needs to be re-strategized to begin to deal with the road ahead.

 

It was clearly agreed by all the board members that PAKPAC needs to develop mechanisms of remaining clear and focused with its mandate and also develop mechanisms to reach out to the grassroots level to understand the views, perspectives of the larger Pakistani American community.  A structure which focuses on outreach to the larger Pakistani American Community is necessary to achieve this. Development of confluence on issues is necessary for the success of the advocacy efforts of our community. Moreover a turnover of the governance and the board is needed to prevent stagnation of ideas and actions.

At this critical time the mandate of the organization needs to be:
A) Continuing and further enhancing the work for restoring the civil rights of the Pakistani American Community in the United States.

B) Identifying mechanisms to normalize the prolonged unending background checks process of the immigrants of Pakistani heritage as they wait to naturalize using legal means.

C) Developing and strengthening a network of politically active Pakistani American across the United States who can help achieve their American dream and also become an important voice within the US political system.

D) Identifying mechanisms to build a long term strategic, people to people relationship between the people of Pakistan and United States. This action should help rebuild and strengthen the image challenges that each of the countries faces in the other.

E) Improving and strengthening the US investment in Pakistan with respect to education, healthcare and financial infrastructure of the Country. Such a process will lead to a long term protection and stability in the region which will result in sustainable success in the war on extremism. 

E) Developing mechanisms which would allow the people of Pakistan to stand up and strengthen processes in Pakistan rather than the strengthening individuals.

Such a tall order of the mandate requires changes in the structure and functioning of the organization. The types and levels of membership have been rethought and the working groups would have to become focused into specific committees to begin implementing their responsibilities. Please check the link and learn about some of the committees.

Following are the key components of the By-law changes:

A: The number of Board of Directors of PAKPAC will be increased to 51 positions.

B:  The Board of Directors would be expected to fulfill all the legal criteria as per the US FEC  requirements, but their initial contribution would be reduced down by 60% at this time.

C: Their initial and yearly contributions may allow them to join most PAKPAC events at no cost.

D: The Board of Directors will be responsible to elect the Executive Board of PAKPAC which will consist of 15 members. The election of the executive committee will be every two years.

E: The organization is open to all Pakistani American Community members and is not limited to physicians only as may have been perceived by people in the past.

If you are interested to become a Board Member and/or Executive Committee Member or would like to learn more about the Bylaws and specific questions, please
place your information below…

LINK