President hopeful Geneva conference to help Pakistan become climate resilient

President Dr. Arif Alvi speaking during an interactive dialogue titled ‘It’s not disability but abilities that count’ at Governor House. Sindh Governor Mohammed Kamran Khan Tessori and First Lady was also present
APP File Photo

ISLAMABAD, Jan 5 (APP): President Dr Arif Alvi Thursday expressed hope that the Geneva Conference to be held on January 9, would be a step forward in helping Pakistan become a climate-resilient country.

Talking during an overview of Aiwan-e-Sadr for the year 2022, he said Pakistan had less than one percent contribution in global warming but was adversely affected by climate-induced disaster caused by floods and suffered losses of billions of dollars.

He lauded the contribution of friendly countries, armed forces, non-governmental organizations and civil administration in the relief and rehabilitation activities for flood affectees.

Immense loss was caused in Balochistan and Sindh as miles upon miles of land submerged in water, he noted.
He said ten percent of the population in Pakistan had disabilities, adding specially abled persons should get education in mainstream schools and children should be taught to treat special persons with empathy.

These special children should be given proper education and employment so that they could contribute to the society and live without dependence on others.

The President underlined the need for creating awareness about the rights of special persons.
Talking about women empowerment, Dr Alvi said women should be given opportunities to set up their own businesses and they should be protected from harassment when they go out of their homes.

He said Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), Quaid e Azam and Allama Iqbal advocated for rights of women.

He said for the first time, Islam gave property rights to women, adding women should have the right to education and they should be financially empowered.

He expressed concern at the restrictions placed on women education in Afghanistan.

He said women in Pakistan could now open bank accounts online and the cash from Benazir Income Support Programme was going directly into their bank accounts.

Digitization and information technology were helping in financial empowerment of women, he explained.

The President said their campaign for awareness of breast cancer was productive and people were now talking about the disease.

He said according to a survey conducted by Human Rights Commission of Pakistan 24 percent people in the country were facing mental health issues at present while 60 to 80 percent of students had mental health problems.

He said an emergency mental health helpline should be set up to help people with mental issues.

He said he resolved numerous complaints referred to him by the Federal Ombudsman against the federal government departments.

He said Pakistan could make immense progress by imparting training to students in the field of information technology.

Pakistan needed stability and a forward-looking government to attract foreign investment, he said and urged students to get training from the government programmes.

He said he was convinced that electronic voting machines were the only solution on the day of polling in Pakistan.

He called on people to get involved in politics, take part in the upcoming elections and strengthen the next government.

He observed that Pakistan was facing the crisis of political polarization and lack of political tolerance.

“My target is to lower political temperature and we should move towards elections. I tried to develop an understanding with all stakeholders on the issues of elections and economy.”

Pakistan was facing different economic pressures including current account deficit and lack of revenue generation, he added.

He stressed on promotion of education, family values, generosity, and morality in society.

APP Services