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Chaudhary Shahid Iqbal, President PAA

Welcome Speech of Mr. Shahid Iqbal President Pakistan Association of Australia
Sunday, 23rd March 2014 - Himalaya Function Centre, Granville Sydney
 

Bismillahar-Rahmanar-Raheem
Good Evening and Aslam-a-Alaikum,

Firstly on behalf of the Pakistan Association of Australia I would like to welcome you all here tonight, specially our parliamentarian guest. Despite their busy schedules they were able to make it tonight also our chief guest His Excellency Abdul Malik Abdullah. Thank you very much to you all for joining us.
I would like to thank you His Excellency Abdul Malik Abdullah, High Commissioner of Pakistan who is our Chief Guest tonight. Also I acknowledged:

Abdul Aziz Uqaili, Consul General of Pakistan
Hon Tony Issa MP representing the Premier Barry O’Farrell and the NSW Government
Hon Amanda Fazio MLC representing the Leader of the Opposition John Robertson and ALP
Hon Shaoquett Moselmane MLC
Hon Geoffrey Lee, Member of Parramatta
Councillor Hicham Zraika, Mayor Auburn City Council
Mr. Vic Alhadeff, Chairperson Community Relations Commission NSW
Our special guest of the evening Dr. Grace Warren, The Star of Pakistan.
Mr. Gavin Dungate, Detective Superintendant, Corporate Spokesperson for International Students
Azam Mohammad, Former Executive Director General Ministry of Commerce Pakistan and everyone who join us tonight for celebrates Pakistan Day in Australia.

23rd March 1940 carries a significant importance in lives of every Pakistanis .The people of Pakistan celebrate the 23rd of March, every year, in Pakistan as well as abroad, with great zeal and enthusiasm, to commemorate the most outstanding achievement of the Muslims of South Asia who passed the historic ‘Pakistan Resolution’ on this day at Lahore in 1940.

74 Years ago, on 23rd March 1940, thousands of Muslims from all over the sub-continent gathered in Lahore and expressed their one dream, one vision and one mission. From that day under the dynamic leaderships of Quaid –E- Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and others, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah Said The Hindus and Muslims belong to two different religious philosophies, social customs, and literature. The struggle for Pakistan began with the slogan of "Pakistan ka Matlab kia La eh laha illaha". And within 7 years they achieved their dream and created Pakistan as well as a separate cricket team.

Pakistan like many other countries and nation is relatively young but in its short span, it has witnessed some great achievements and challenges.

Although we are living in this wonderful and multicultural country Australia, Pakistani community settled here in Australia is peaceful, law abiding and well settled. Our educated workforce is contributing significantly to the local economy. And is well integrated in Australian society.

We should keep in mind our home country and we should be proud of belonging to a country that is among the world’s top producer of best cotton, rice, mangoes and wheat. A country that has produced and brought up: world class teachers, doctors, engineers, businessmen, professionals and of course best Cricketers.

While we have many things to celebrate, we also have many challenges in front of us. We as a nation must follow the teachings of our Founding Father Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah to fulfill his dreams we should have Unity, Faith and Discipline in our lives.

The news we see every day is more negative than positive from our home country.
I urge the citizens and the government of Australia to be more aware of the terrorist activities in Pakistan and assist in getting rid of this calamity or reducing it to bearable level so the common people of Pakistan may live without unwanted fear.

Younger Brother of PAA Trustee‘s CaudhryNazim Mr.SaqibNaeem Khan will never be forgotten as his passed in Sydney this week, it is a big loss for the Australian Pakistani community. Let us pray that Saqib Khan souls rest in peace and Allah grants him a place in JannatulFirdous.Can we please have a minute of silence in his honour and respect. Thank You.

On behalf of the PAA, I would like to thank our sponsors, trustees, family, friends and our Association members especially Dr. Abbas Rizvi, Raja Taseer,Asif Hanif and Umar Chaudhry who have all put in a lot of effort and time in organising this function.

Taking this opportunity, I would like to acknowledge the media present tonight and those have always supported the association over the years ,Specially one and only, the Editor in Chief of Sada-e-Watan, Syed Zafar Hussain Shah and also
Javed Ch from Awaz Group, Munir Ahmed from Rabita,Mohhamad Asif from Pak link.
Also I would like to acknowledge the following:

*Dr. Sayeed Khan, President Australia Pakistan Medical Association
*Mr.Iftikhar Rana, President Pakistan Council of Australia
• Saad Malik PML ( N),• Hanif Muqaddam –PPP,• Afroz Shaheen – MQM,Farooq Malik - PTI,• Abdul Qayyum Changazi – Hazara Community,HaJi Memmoud Auzpak Liverpool and Molana Nazirul Hasan Thanvi.

Once again, I wish every Pakistani a Happy Pakistan Day and pray to Allah for the safety and prosperity of both our nations – PAKISTAN AND AUSTRALIA. May Allah Almighty grant us and our leaders the wisdom to move away from the mistakes of the past.
Thank you and Pakistan Zindabad.

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