ISLAMABAD: Senate Standing Committee on Defence Chairman Mushahid Hussain Syed has been elected as the co-chair of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP).

He was unanimously elected for the position at ICAPP’s 11th General Assembly in Istanbul (Türkiye), which was attended by nearly 200 representatives and leaders of 70 political parties from 33 countries, the senator’s office said in a statement issued on Sunday.

ICAPP is Asia’s oldest and largest organisation of political parties. It was launched in Manila in September 2000 to promote exchanges and cooperation between political parties from different Asian countries.

The four-day meeting hosted by Türkiye’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) re-elected former foreign minister of South Korea Chung Euiyong as the body’s chairman.

Senator Syed’s candidature was proposed by Thailand and Iran, and supported by China, Cambodia, Russia, Lebanon, Turkiye and Indonesia before being put to a vote.

Senator Syed thanked the participants for reposing confidence in him and termed his election as a “humbling experience” for him personally and “a great honour” for Pakistan as it was an important global forum representing public opinion and political parties of the world’s largest continent, Asia.

He said Asia was witnessing historic transformation as the balance of economic and political power is shifting from West to East marking the ‘dawn of the ‘Asian Century’. This, he noted, had been predicted by the great visionary poet of the East, Dr Allama Iqbal, 90 years ago, when he wrote: ‘see, the Sun rising in the East’!

Senator Syed said: “ICAPP is continuation of the Bandung Spirit, which started in 1955 with the first Afro-Asian Summit hosted by the great Indonesian leader, Dr Soekarno, at the Indonesian city of Bandung.”

He said time had come that Asian hands must shape Asian destiny and the future of Asia.

Senator Syed quoted three different world leaders — presidents Xi, Biden and Erdogan to underline that the “current global scenario is unpredictable, volatile and unstable”.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2022