ISLAMABAD: PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that new global realities have posed new challenges to mankind and are beyond the capacity of any single state or a single political party to address. Therefore, concerted and joint efforts are needed to address them both within and beyond national borders.

He was addressing the concluding session of the two-day International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) on Human Trafficking here on Sunday.

The PPP chairman, who arrived here on Saturday, was expected to hold meetings of various chapters of the party during his stay in the capital. He met Azad Kashmir Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed on Sunday and discussed the strategy for the coming elections in the valley.

“Human trafficking is a stain on the collective conscience of the humanity, an unacceptable barbarity and a new form of slavery in the 21st century which must be rejected, condemned and eliminated,” he said. “This stain and stigma can be washed by collective action of nations and mankind.”

The conference was organised by the PPP, PML-N, PTI and PML-Q.

Referring to the fact that the conference had been organised by Pakistan’s four political parties, Mr Bilawal Bhutto said that it had raised the hopes of achieving much more in collectively fighting the evils facing mankind.

He said he had special affiliation with the organisation because his mother (Benazir Bhutto) was one of its founding members.

Earlier, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra addressed the gathering.

The conference concluded after adopting the Islamabad Statement that reaffirmed “commitment to continue combat against this most heinous act of violence” and adopted an Action Plan focusing on raising public awareness, mapping trans-border cooperation and establishing a fast track prosecution system, through creating synergies among all stakeholders.

The organisation represented about 300 political parties in 50 countries and the two-day conference was attended by representatives of political parties from India, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Malaysia and Myanmar and several international organisations.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the conference on Saturday, Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani had warned against attempts to destabilise political governments in Asia as the balance of political and economic power was shifting from the west to the east.

As special rapporteur of the conference, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed of the PML-Q highlighted its importance, saying that people from different nationalities were here to discuss and debate the issues being faced by the Asian region.

He said political parties were aware of the issues being faced by the people of Pakistan. “This conference reflects that political parties give equal importance to issues being faced by the people of Pakistan,” he added.

He said four political parties of the country had jointly organised this event which showed commitment of the political leadership.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2016