April 18, 2006	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 19, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, April 17: Speakers at a seminar here on Monday said the World Social Forum held in Karachi was a significant event in which the participants expressed and shared their feelings and spoke against the existing unjustified global system and on drawing lessons for a better future.

The “debriefing seminar on World Social Forum 2006 Karachi” was organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute.

While chairing the seminar, Dr Abid Qayyum Suleri said the conduct of the event in Pakistan was itself a major development with regard to the conditions of people’s freedom of information and freedom of expression.

He also raised the questions about very limited participation of Chinese delegates and citizens participation in some of the programmes of the five-day event.

However, he said, the event turned out to be an important platform for the peoples across the globe to express their positions.

Dr A.H. Nayyar, member organising committee of the event, said WSF was basically a dissent and reaction of the people to neo-liberal agenda and World Economic Forum. However, he made it clear that WSF was a forum not a movement that rather provided a unique opportunity to its participants such as representatives of trade unions, NGOs, leftist parties, political and social workers, research institutions and dissent intellectuals to participate and discuss their diverse alternative ideas for the better change.

He said there was no declaration in the end of each WSF including the one held at Karachi because the platform was not meant to build a consensus among its participants. He said the organisers were only responsible for the logistical arrangements of the forum while the rest of the responsibility lied with the participating organizations and movements.

TV journalist/producer Khalid Jamil considered it a successful event given the conditions of law and order situation in Karachi and military rule in the country.

He also stressed the organisers for producing any declaration or any issue-based summary of the events held under WSF Karachi for any future reference.