We need visionary leaders

Let us not talk of an ideal condition but there should be a balance and fair situation. We fool ourselves if we think we can hide behind masks and maintain a double personality. All insincerities will kick back.  They will come back to haunt us and make our true intentions plain for the entire world to see. Since my school life, I have been following former federal minister Julius Salik, when he was elected member of the parliament for the first time. I ran his election campaign, seeing him as a revolutionary leader but once he became a legislator, he neither brought reforms nor took solid steps to strengthen the community, so I stopped following him.

Currently there is a battery of Christian social and political leaders on the horizon currently, some have been there for decades but with a blank list of achievements, some from the most recent past have a tainted record with vested interests, and some are emerging as fresh blood, energetic, clear vision and not only aware of the socio-political issues of non-Muslims in the country but also a intellect approach towards their solution. Healthy self-esteem is important because some of us think too little of ourselves; on the other hand, some of us overestimate ourselves. However the key is an honest and accurate evaluation. When our leaders at any level are accused, discredited, denounce and charged with failure the word “impeach” begins to emerge. If a leader unable to do what he was placed in office to do by election or appointment, he becomes worthless and useless, this is a situation when public impeachment should be considered.

I could be wrong, but what I have seen during the last decade, majority of Pakistani Christian leadership political, social or religious is self-centered. Reforming or leading a nation is not a game for armatures, it needs solid commitment, professional attitude combined with a national and international exposure and ability to represent the masses at all levels. When I look around there are a very few personalities that fit into the above criteria and one of the example I would like to share is Albert David MBE, Chairman of Pakistan United Christian Movement – PUCM. Albert has a proven and accomplished professional background, national and international exposure and experience of dealing with human rights issues, strong grip over and awareness of socio-political issues whether related to the religious minorities or country's national issues and above all a vision and road map for non-Muslim Pakistanis to integrate into the national main stream, political and social. Albert strongly believes in social harmony and cohesion and advocates nationalism. I had a chance of going through his profile and would like to share a few of his achievements:

o   He is the first Pakistani Christian to be conferred MBE (Honorary Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) by her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, in recognition for outstanding services and contribution on issue of forced marriages.

o   He was invited by the White House as representative of Pakistani Christians for breakfast with President Barak Obama, an annual event to promote interfaith harmony between different religions in Feb, 2014.

o   A speaker and panelist at News Week’s conference “Women in World”, New York 2012, where he shared the stage with Foreign Secretary, Hillary Clinton and Angelina Jolie.

o   He was also the speaker and panelist on a debate jointly organized by BBC World service trust and BBC Urdu on the issue of forced marriages, honor killings and Gender Equality.

Locally he has served as the Member of the Provincial Minority Advisory Council, actively involved in the campaign against torture, a vibrant role in the promotion of child rights and leading on the advocacy campaign for Pakistan to accede to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Child Abductions. Another of Albert's achievement was his role in signing of a Protocol between Judiciaries of Pakistan and UK on the issue of Child Abductions.

Along with the above mentioned and a very clear political agenda of prosperity coupled with intellectual thinking and prolific speaking skills in a number of languages, In my opinion he is emerging as one the more capable non-Muslim political leaders in Pakistan.

America and the west have a policy of ignoring the persecution of the Christians claiming it to be an internal affair but for some reason focus on individuals, however these individuals do not present a true picture there. Some local Christian politicians, civil rights activists and religious leaders have been making money on the pretext of safeguarding minority rights but these financial resources are being used in getting positions in other political parties and for their vest interests instead of spending those funds for achieving Christian prosperity.