Lest We Forget: Of Eid, Pakistaniat & Floods

100 days have passed since the worst humanitarian crisis in modern history ravaged 1/3rd of Pakistan. We tried to contribute in our humble capacities; We had young men and men leaving work, studies and families to reach out to affected compatriots. We saw mothers crying and hugging children not of their wombs like they were their own, we saw fathers saving lives of children they did not have any blood relation to, we saw boys shedding tears and lending a helping hand to sisters, we saw sisters bringing water to brothers not related to them.

Irrespective of ethnicity, language, regionalism and religion– Pakistanis reached out to their affected compatriots. Irrespective of whys, what’s, when’s and how’s – We saw Pakistaniat during 2005 earthquake, Swat IDP crisis, Baluchistan earthquake and once again during 2010 flood relief efforts.

During our 35 deliveries so far, in 27 different locations — We once again felt Pakistaniat from Karachi to Khyber and beyond. From Canada & Australia to USA, UK and Japan – we saw humanity bonded. We thank the generous donors, who listened to our plight and gave us the opportunity to serve our country, with over 36 Million PKR (420,000 USD) raised and disbursed so far. We thank 100 odd young relief workers, who volunteered their time and energies with us. This by the way, is not the end, but the start of the tedious and more energy consuming efforts to rehabilitate millions who are still desperate for our help.

The youth of Pakistan was once again on the forefront, to deliver help to their countrymen in need. This disaster showed us hope, and like rightly said “From Floods, Pakistan’s New Generation Emerged”.

Lets live up to the spirit of Eid of Sacrifice and own the 7 Million still homeless; the 22 Million who still wait for us..

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Canadian Poets & Painters for Pakistan

Ottawa’s finest poets, MC’s and painters gathered to help Pakistan flood victims. This is humanity beyond borders, this is the love that will make this world a peaceful place to live in.

They raised 3000 USD in few hours and their donations helped 600 families practically as they now sleep in warm blankets, quilts and wear warm clothes in winters after floods devastated their homes.

View the performance by one of the artists at the event:

View more pictures on our facebook

Crossposted from bywardofmouthblog:

This is what it’s all about: Love. Pakistan has recently been devastated by brutal floods and the situation is pretty grim over there. A group of local artists – Rio Pelletier, Greg Helpin, Narmeen Hashim, Asma Inam and Darina Novotny – got together with the Tea Store in the Byward Market and organized an amazing event.

Hosted by Kwende Kefentse, the evening carried a certain hopeful magic that seemed to linger in the air and blend with the aromas of jasmine, morrocan mint and chai, leaving attendants with the subtle impression that a night like this – with everyone on the same page, open hearts and mutal respect for humanity – true change could actually be possible. The evening unfolded and the words dripped off the tongues of the poets and envelloped the mesmerized audience.

The silent art auction was an omnipresence of color, texture and emotion, adding to the unique cultural intimacy of the evening. Art was donated by so many different people, including some big names like HIERO, DOLL, MEEN, REDFIVE, MOPES and EL SEED.

Everyone from spoken word poets to rappers, singers and musicians took the stage and made it their own, serving gourmet food for thought and intellectual nourishment. Performers included The Recipe, Poetic Speed, Opensecret, Hodan Ibrahim, Hyfidelik and Synonymous to name a few. After a short intermission, Sound of Lions took the spotlight and Whitney Delion’s haunting vocals brought the introspective silence back to the room. Flight Distance ended the lineup, delivering clever, conscious prose – the perfect finale.

Through donations, food, tea, raffle ticket and art sales, Poets & Painters for Pakistan managed to raise over $3000.00 for the Pakistan Youth Alliance, a youth-led grassroots organization. The Canadian Government then matched the profit dollar for dollar, resulting in a grand total of $6500.00 raised and sent overseas… a very significant achievement. Everything was donated – all art, all tea and raffle prizes were supplied by local businesses, including the Ottawa Senators.

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Art For Change: Creating Awareness Globally

Pakistan Youth Alliance is proud to announce its logo printed on paintings made for “Art For Change” [Pakistan Floods] were personally handed over to Bill Gates (Microsoft), Ted Turner, David Aylward (mHealth Alliance), Tom Wheeler (Chairman, mHealth), Dr Shorbaji(WHO) & Chaitali Sinha(IDRC) at mHealth Summit in Washington D.C on November 8th and 9th, 2010

Message from the member who personally handed over the paintings on our behalf read: ” Bill just asked his secy to take it. Ted turner loved it. Tom wheeler was too excited. Rest said they will keep it on their tables and I told them to keep reading the word PAKISTAN on it –morning evening. “

Pakistan floods and our flag decorate the walls of some of most influentional personailties globally. LIVING THE CHANGE!

Snapshot of one of the paintings handed over

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Interview with BBC

Chairperson PYA, Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi was interviewed by BBC regarding Pakistan floods 2010:

The programe producer at BBC reiterated after the show:

” Everyone on the programme was really struck by the power and immediacy of your interview. If only there were more people like yourself as able to articulate what is going on then perhaps the response domestically and internationally would be far better ”

watch?v=agfKvqz8pOg

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Checking in with PYA: Alliance for Youth Movements, Int’l

The Internationally renowned Alliance for Youth Movements interviewed PYA concerning youth activism & flood relief work:

The Pakistan Youth Alliance (PYA) is one of a cluster of civil society groups that emerged on Facebook during 2007’s emergency rule. The organization focuses on strengthening Pakistani civil society, ensuring that young people—a demographic that the alliance sees as largely indifferent to social or political causes—are its biggest contingent.

Since emergency rule ended, PYA’s presence on Facebook has grown into three separate groups with over 5,000-plus members and a fanpage with 7,000 members. “Facebook is a gift from God,” PYA’s chairperson, Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi, told me. The social network serves as the cornerstone of the group’s efforts—they use it for everything from recruiting, communicating with members, fund-raising, and outsourcing expertise. They also have a nearly 20,000-strong email list and an SMS list with between 10,000 and 12,000 numbers.

When this summer’s heavy monsoon season turned into the worst disaster in Pakistan’s history, all these resources were diverted to flood relief. Since July, PYA has been delivering the basic goods and services that flood victims initially hoped to see come from the government. As one anonymous organizer told Foreign Policy: “A few of us thought that if no one is willing to help our own people—not the world community, not our own government—then it’s our job.”

How has its foray into relief efforts impacted the PYA as a civil society organization? Will they be able to redirect attention generated by the disaster back into their pro-democracy efforts? I caught up with Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi this week.

AYM: What type of support do you most need right now?

PYA: In disasters as big as this one all support and funding seems like less than it is. We need volunteers, we need relief workers, and we need donors. We need doctors, paramedics, and street activists along with digital activists.

AYM: To what degree is the flooding disproportionately affecting some Pakistanis over others?

PYA: This being the biggest disaster in the history of Pakistan, it is affecting both rural and urban settlements to the core. But rural populations surpass the country’s urban population, and their sources of earning (i.e., crops and cattle) have been completely destroyed.

Even if the flood recedes, what will people go back to? Nothing is left. This flood has broken the backbone of people with lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Not only their life earnings but the source of these earnings have been washed away.

AYM: How are you using social media in your relief efforts? Which tools are most useful?

PYA: We started PYA in 2007 as a Facebook group; since then, a mere Facebook group became the biggest and the most potent youth movement of Pakistan. What was initially digital activism has been transformed into street activism. We’ve helped over 25,000 families in need.

Most of the fund-raising, propagation, and messaging is done through Facebook and Twitter. According to my personal estimate, more than 60 percent of 17 million PKR (approximately 200K USD) we have raised to date has been because of Facebook.

Mobiles, Blackberries, iPhones—all aid not only activism but relief work. As live feedback is sent to donors they get to see where and how their money is helping people. It helps us, as workers on ground, to communicate in inaccessible areas.

AYM: Could you talk about some of the long-term consequences of the flooding as you see them?

PYA: Pakistan will be back to where it was before the flood in around a decade.

The political consequences are already evident, for example how some political forces are using it as tool to get political advantages. Local politicians and landlords use relief aid to get more voters. Extremist organizations use flood relief work to recruit more people.

But not all of the consequences have been negative. From Pakistan’s flood, I see Pakistan’s young generation emerging. I see amazing passion and patriotism in youth all over the country shrugging off their apathy and reaching out to their fellow countrymen in need. This is the future, right here.

AYM: Can you relay the attention PYA has received for its flood relief work into your democracy activism?

PYA: We work on short-term objectives and long-term goals. We work from initiative to initiative basis—and yes, we do social development along with sociopolitical activism. Right now, the immediate crisis is flood relief. But our hope is that our goals for a democratic Pakistan will resonate with new members.

We can’t force issues; many young people are just interested in rebellious street protests and many are just into social development. But overall, as the organization grows [we hope to] gather more respect and attention among an increased membership, which will make us matter more when lobbying for democracy.

And our membership has grown magnificently. Since July 2010 there have been approximately 2,000 to 3,000 new registrations on our site, 2,000 new people on our SMS list, and 3,000 to 4,000 in Facebook groups and fanpages.

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PYA mentioned at UN Headquarters, NYC

Rajmohan Gandhi (Photo: Dale Wain)

Rajmohan Gandhi mentions PYA at UN Headquarters, NYC in a press conference with Abdullah Hussein Haroon, Pakistan’s permanent ambassador to UN:

I don’t expect the international community or America to become aware of all the million individual Pakistan dramas or to keep track as the subjects of these dramas step into their darkened future. But I do expect and urge some of us to follow some lives and support them.

Luckily we have begun to learn of the acts of service and giving by group after group of ordinary Pakistanis who have taken food, tents, medicines and doctors to the hungry, the sick and the homeless.

In Pakistan and outside, young Pakistanis have given amazing leadership. Pakistan Youth Alliance, Youth Catalyst Pakistan, Relief4Pakistan, Mercy Corps Pakistan, and Pehla Qadam (the first step) formed by Pakistani law students in the UK, are only some of the bodies organizing relief. On my campus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Pakistani Graduate Students Association has done such impressive work that the City has just decided to give to the association a special award.

Professor Rajmohan Gandhi, President of Initiatives of Change International, joined Pakistani Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon in a joint appeal for further assistance to those who suffer as a result of the catastrophic floods in Pakistan. They were speaking at a joint press conference at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on 3 September.  The event was widely reported in the media, particularly in South Asia. The above pasted extract is taken from Gandhi’s prepared speech.

watch?v=ZzdJGmzql0Q

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Youngsters who have come together in hope

Article published in Indian Newspaper Express Buzz

Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi, 24, has not slept for over 24 hours. It is a day after the UN declared Pakistan’s floods a bigger disaster than the 2004 Asian tsunami, the 2005 Pakistan earthquake and the Haiti earthquake combined. Hundreds have died, millions are homeless, and Zaidi is making his ninth delivery of food packets in south Punjab for 1,500 families.

He is the founder of Pakistan Youth Alliance, a youth-based and youth-run organisation that started in 2007 after emergency rule. “It aims to create socio-political awareness in the country,” says Zaidi. Their network extends across and outside Pakistan and has more than 20,000 members.

The group has organised and completed 120 events worldwide, including walks, vigils, protests, concerts, relief work, seminars and art for change competitions. “We have reached out to 15,000 families with immediate relief aid and have managed to raise over 12 million rupees from the streets, by begging,” says Zaidi.

Most of PYA’s members have impressive academic records. Zaidi is an aeronautical engineer, poet and columnist. Then there is Maryam Kanwer, 26,

co-founder of the organisation and a teacher and researcher; Maryam Noor Malik, 21, a medical student; Husham Ahmed, a research consultant with a degree in electrical engineering and Shakeel Ahsan who is an MBA student. These are just a few of them.  

“We started work for flood affected even before it became a disaster of unparalleled nature,” says Zaidi.

It has been physically exhausting and emotionally taxing. “After visiting flood-hit areas and having personally experienced the situation from Pakhtunkhwa to south Punjab, I can easily say this is the worst disaster to hit Pakistan,” says Zaidi. “For example, last time I went to Nowshera the locals told me how they found water containers floating on flood water. When they opened them, there were babies inside. Mothers who were about to drown in nearby villages had put their little ones inside it.”

“Similarly, we hear of how water levels started to rise while people were sleeping and they could not save their five-year-olds, how everything they had was washed away. People are angry. They complain of no prior warning, no evacuation plan and no disaster management by the government.

“The situation is chaotic. Children face skin diseases, mothers fight each other to snatch more food for their

babies, fathers are turning desperate to keep their kids alive. We hear of sex for food and parents stealing food,” says Zaidi. “Children live in the midst of snakes, mosquitoes, hunger — dreaming of a normal life.”

“Everything has been destroyed — schools, mosques, hospitals. Infrastructure has been rendered useless. I haven’t seen anything like this. During the Swat crisis (when the Pakistan offensive against Taliban left millions homeless), people were hopeful that they would go back home and start a normal life. But here, they have nothing to go back to. Nothing is left.”

Zaidi says the government “should have been pro-active, instead of reacting the way the tide turns.”

Foreign aid and NGO support have been helpful. And Zaidi has heard of some India-based groups helping flood victims in Pakistan. “It makes my heart warm,” he says. “I would love to collaborate with such youth groups.”

“I’ve always dreamt of working with an Indian youth organisation, to spread the message of love and tolerance. Extremists and war-mongers in India and Pakistan must realise war can never be a solution. We need to feed our people, for God’s sake, we need to provide them shelter and clothes.”

Zaidi has been dreaming of a better world since he was a child. His email address is [email protected] (the man with a plan). “I thought I do have THE plan,” he laughs. PYA seems like a workable one

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Winning people’s trust

The News  section ‘Kolachi’ mentions Pakistan Youth Alliance:

With over 5,000 fans of the organisation on Facebook, the Pakistan Youth Alliance (PYA) has emerged as one of the biggest aid collectors and distributors. So far it has distributed over four million rupees worth of goods and relief aid to the flood-stricken people across the country including Nowshera, Rajanpur, Charsadda, and southern Punjab.

 Ali Abbas, heading the PYA told Kolachi that since every settlement has its own requirement, therefore it is not possible to issue a similar item list for every camp and settlement. “We first carry out an assessment of every locality, get in touch with the governmental officials and find out what commodities are required in a particular area.

 On his way to deliver the ninth consignment, he said that so far a tremendous response has been received by the organisation. Abbas discourages dry ration amongst the items. He said that in some areas, such as Nowshera, there is an excess of commodities. In fact, there was so much flour that people were sleeping on flour sacks.

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From the floods, Pakistan’s next generation emerges

Foreign Policy Magazine  -mentions PYA in the following article [August 26, 2010]:  

Rising waters have left people stranded on islands of mud. Men and women wade through torrents of disease-ridden water seeking sanctuary for the children they carry on their shoulders. Thousands huddle in the few remaining public buildings in the flood-hit areas. Around them the receding water lays bare the destruction wrought by torrents that smashed everything in their path.

The floods, which have killed 1,600 people and made millions homeless, have exposed the Pakistani state’s shortcomings to withering criticism. But while the destruction vividly shows what is wrong with Pakistan, the reaction to it demonstrates where the country’s eventual salvation might lie.

Pakistan is beset by a serious lack of good governance. Analysts such as the scholars at the Pak Institute of Peace Studies have argued for some time that this absence is a driving force behind whatever support extremists in Pakistan can claim. In recent weeks, the Air Blue crash in Islamabad and the government’s poor reaction to the floods have drawn more attention to this fracture at the heart of the country. No matter how much aid flows into Pakistan from the outside, Pakistanis themselves must ultimately ensure the formation of governments that serve the people they claim to represent. And surprisingly, possibly the one positive thing to emerge from the floods is growing evidence that young Pakistanis – the educated sons and daughters of well-off families – are willing and able to show that collective action for the public good is not something that is only possible in other countries.

Just days after the scale of the flooding’s devastation became apparent, Pakistanis in their 20s and 30s began mobilizing their networks of friends and colleagues for the relief effort, often utilizing social media such as Facebook and Twitter. While President Asif Zardari was away from the country on his ill-advised trip to Europe and aid officials were saying international donations had been slow to arrive because people don’t trust the Pakistani government, young people across the country were organizing aid drops and going to the streets to collect donations.

One aid organizer who didn’t want to give his name said to me, “We were sitting in front of the TV watching these devastating scenes from our own country. A few of us thought that if no one is willing to help our own people – not the world community, not our own government – then it’s our job.” One previously-established organization, Pakistan Youth Alliance (PYA) has raised 2.5 million rupees (about $30,000) in two weeks from street collections alone in Pakistan’s main cities.

But new groups have also been formed in response to the crisis. Two Pakistanis from Karachi studying law in the UK have set up Pehla Qadam (First Step) while on their holidays. Youth Catalyst Pakistan, created just before the floods to work on issues related to Pakistan’s young, has pivoted to delivering aid and has arranged for volunteer doctors to set up medical camps in afflicted areas.

Those abroad with family ties to Pakistan have also gotten involved as well. American Pakistani organizations, for instance, have created Relief4Pakistan, a donation campaign raising money for Mercy Corps‘ work in Pakistan.

The international media has given much attention to organizations with political aims using the floods to garner support. Many have reported  that Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a front group for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba which is implicated in the Mumbai attacks, has been administering aid. Even the Pakistani army is suspected by some to be using the floods to gain popularity at the expense of the civilian government.

In contrast, the young Pakistanis organizing tents, food and medical treatment have shown no political ambition beyond wanting to do good for their country. However, their activities are stirring the social and political waters in Pakistani cities – where their volunteers live -and the rural areas – where they come into contact with the flood’s victims.

Bridging social divides

Jibran Nasir of Pehla Qadam explained to me how working to provide relief has challenged ingrained perceptions about ethnicity, class and gender in Pakistan.

“We have volunteers who are from all different backgrounds working together; Baluchis, Sindhis, Pashtuns, you name it… For many people, it’s the first time they are interacting with others from different backgrounds. It breaks down barriers,” he said.

Pehla Qadam volunteers raised funds in Karachi even when the city was rocked by tit-for-tat assassinations between Pashtuns and ethnic Urdu-speakers known as Muhajirs. Nasir himself is half Punjabi and half Muhajir while his collaborator Ammar Abbasi is a Sindhi and a woman. Both are in their early 20s and study in the UK.

Others who had volunteered in flood-hit areas said it was a shock to see how refugee and poor communities had been living in the first place, but that it was uplifting and encouraging to connect with them on a human level. For the local communities receiving help, it was a welcome surprise to see individuals from ethnicities they considered hostile coming to offer help.

Tayyeba Gul, from Youth Catalyst Pakistan says she made a point of getting locals involved in the relief effort.

“We need their help and they feel good mentally. They feel like they are doing something useful and it helps to make sure they don’t get drawn into something bad,” she said referring to extremist organizations.

A popular view is that these young expatriate Pakistanis are indolent, spoilt and worried only about their job opportunities abroad. This sometimes rings true, but it isn’t the whole picture. These young people benefit from being disconnected from the tribal and clannish politics of their leaders. More importantly, though, they are energetic, frustrated and keen to bring about change.

Some of those organizing the aid share the general negative perceptions of their peers. Nasir as well as Abbas from the Pakistan Youth Alliance say they want Pakistan’s younger generation of qualified and well-connected people to leave their insulated bubbles of foreign travel, chauffer-driven cars and plush social events and do something for their country and its people. It looks like more young Pakistanis are thinking the same thing.

“After I started, I found that quite a few people think like me,” said Nasir. “After we set up we had people almost immediately thinking the same thing wanting to help… Yes, I was surprised” He added, “More well-to-do Pakistanis need to see the reality of people’s lives in this country.”

In some way or another, all of the groups I spoke to are utilizing social networking technology to help their efforts. Kalsoom Lakhani, who helped set up Relief4Pakistan, said the venture was partly started to engage social media platforms “to mobilize donations in the most centralized way possible.” Relief4Pakistan, like Pehla Qadam and other groups, uses Facebook and other social networking sites to overcome the trust issues that have plagued the government by showing donators where their money is going.

And while Pakistani media shows the army making food drops and government officials touring devastated towns and villages, much of the initial drive to deliver aid, set up camps and provide medical help was organized and coordinated by networks of young people utilizing this technology. Before the media was carrying appeals by well-known personalities or reporting donations by large firms, emails, tweets, text messages and Facebook groups were already mobilizing help.

Finally, while some groups will likely disband after finishing their relief work, others like Ali Abbas of the Pakistan Youth Alliance want to take things further.

PYA, which boasts 18,000 members, was founded in 2007 during Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s rule. The group’s general aim is to increase political participation amongst the population. After the military man left office, the group started working on social development issues and organized relief to the displaced people of Swat who had fled Taliban violence.

Abbas told me his motivation is simple: “We want to make people understand that they have a part to play in the destiny of this country.”

Western nations have in the past been keen to support Pakistan’s small military and feudal-political elites. That policy has hampered the evolution of Pakistani society and failed the country while endangering the wider world.  But it’s not business as usual in Pakistan anymore. A new generation of Pakistanis who are less beholden to the dictates of traditional politics as practiced by their fathers and grandfathers are willing and able to prove their commitment to the future of their country. Out of floods, earthquakes and political catastrophes, these young people are changing the rules in Pakistan.

Amil Khan works in Pakistan for Radical Middle Way and writes as Londonstani on the Abu Muqawama blog. His book about the development of extremism, The Long Struggle, will be published by Zero Books in September.

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A Ray of Light in Darkness : Pakistan Youth Alliance

The following article was written in April 2009, by Asad Tirmizi and was published in top blogs of Pakistan, such as Teeth Maestro

Pakistan Youth Alliance

I grew up in a country plagued with uncertainty. A country whose bases of formation, clear as a mirror are fogged by stains of provincialism, sectarianism, feudalism, terrorism and exploitation. The high frequency of crisis which this piece of land has seen in its nascent years has resulted in an exodus of people who would rather not associate with Pakistan. I grew up among a generation disappointed with the state of affairs around them, hopeless about the future of the country and after many years of exploitation by linguistic, religious, feudal and political pundits had somehow made a compromise with the situation that nothing can be done, things will never change and till the time we are comfy in our abodes, let us not care about what happens around us. Resultantly our nation in its utter disappointment, that nothing can be done, has given a free hand to anyone in power, to bend in whatever way that suits his interests the destiny of our whole country.

A million examples can be quoted in which issues of national importance were politicized for personal gains putting the development of Pakistan on a back burner. A political setup based on family politics and an active military participation has made sure that Pakistan remains either in claws of military or civilian dictatorship thus barricading entry of worthy, deserving and patriotic leadership. When people come to realize that they will never get representation in avenues of power, they either lose hope or demand a revolutionary change in system. Our countrymen sadly due to their apathy and rampant ignorance have selected the former.

This is the Pakistan I grew up in. Outwardly, I like most others, had made a compromise with the affairs to plan a destiny on a sail less ship being navigated by the most undeserving of captains in the roughest possible waters. But in my heart I was never satisfied, knowing this is not the country the father of my nation fought for, this is not the country our forefathers gave their lives for, this is not the country we the youth of Pakistan deserved. But, then I met and became part of a group way different than anyone I had ever seen before in Pakistan. A group of young motivated people who would not sit idle when issues of national importance are being thrust upon them contrary to the desires of our countrymen. A group of people who take pride in their identity, religion and culture yet aren’t biased to degrade those who disagree. This is a group of people who have no political gains, who have no monetary gains associated with their activities. This is Pakistan Youth Alliance.

Pakistan Youth Alliance aims to awake the youth of Pakistan from the sleep of Apathy. The mission is to gather together young people whose only motive is a better Pakistan and to utilize their energies for nation building. The activities of this organization are as varied as are its demographics. The main focus is however on:

  1. Enlightening the youth to feel responsible for this country and prepare them for future leadership tasks
  2. Rallying and raising their voices against injustice, exploitation and other social ills of our society.
  3. Raise funds for various nation building activities like education of youth, welfare of missing persons families, helping the war torn affected of Swat etc.
  4. Making our leaders accountable for their deeds and to demand an explanation when their activities tarnish the image of our homeland.
  5. Spreading the message of enlightenment, hope, responsibility and patriotism to the masses through unconventional but effective mediums like music, poetry and prose.

Pakistan Youth Alliance which started during the “Emergency Rule” in November 2007, held a number of anti-emergency protests across Pakistan. Recent event include Protest against Indian air space violations, Fund raising for the effected of Swat and Gaza, show of solidarity against indiscriminate attacks on Srilankan cricketers and Rallying for the Restoration of Judiciary. There are various Socio Political events in the pipeline in near future which include fund raising concerts, panel discussions, study circles, seminars and walks/vigils. Moreover, PYA is planning a “Music for Change” series of jams/gigs across the country which would urge musicians to use their music as a tool to wake the youth of Pakistan up.

PYA is an organization which unlike other political parties and student federations takes it strength purely from Pakistan, particularly from the segment of society which has always been neglected i.e. the youth. We do not cash upon religious biases, we do not rely on provincial prejudices, we do not emphasize on sectarian issues and we have no linguistic barriers in our organization. We believe Pakistan to be a true Islamic Republic in which people of every religion can participate in nation building therefore we carry the same spirit into our organization and any person or any religion can play a role provided he has no personal petty gains attached with it. For us Provinces are no more than mere lines which are there only for better management of Pakistani territories. In PYA there is no Punjabi, no Sindhi, no Balochi, no Pathan and no Kashmiri there are only Pakistanis, True Pakistanis. In PYA there are no linguistic barriers, for us language is a mode of communication and we choose one which can convey our message to the masses effectively. We draw our strength from our National Language Urdu and are equally proud of all the regional languages because it binds us to our land. We are proud of our Urdu distorted throats which can’t speak English in Foreign accents reminding us every moment of our lives that we belong to Pakistan.

Pakistan Youth Alliance

PYA believes our country is the land of opportunity. We are a nation who when decides to achieve something … achieves it by any means. A glimpse in our history shows that when our forefathers decided to gain their freedom, an empire on which the sun never sets bowed down. When we decided that we will have no barriers on our liberty, a billion racist Hindustanis dreaming to undermine our religion and freedom were thrown back across the border. When our country was challenged to defend its freedom in Indo Pak wars, we proved our mettle by defending our freedom from armies five times our size dreaming to drink in the land of Pure. When our fathers decided to build a nuclear arsenal for protection against our enemies, the whole world saw a nation which can’t make a needle on its own, build nuclear weapons and state of the art missiles. My dear Countrymen this is the legacy we should have possessed to build on it a better Pakistan. But the continuous exploitation by corrupt leaders and our apathetic attitude has resulted in hopelessness beyond measures. But even now nothing is lost. We are the same people who have altered the course of history in the past. We can do it again! Provided we are ready to pay the sacrifices, provided we make up our mind. This country which has given us so much and has asked back so little, deserves much better stature than it has today.

At PYA we have made up our mind that either we’ll go down or our country will go up. For all those who wish to join us in this task of nation building we assure negligible gain and unimaginable pain. The only gain we enjoy is the green flag unfurled in all its grace. The only gain we want is a better Pakistan and we are ready to go any distance for this cause. We don’t promise that we will bring a change but we promise to spark a brain that will bring a change!

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