Impression About Friendly And Brother Country Pakistan

Bu yazı 04/03/2024 tarihinde yayınlanmıştır.

*Doç. Dr. Güray ALPAR/Yazar

We all already know the bond of affection between Türkiye and Pakistan, which has roots deep in history. In addition to the material and moral support given by the Pakistani people to the Türkish during the War of Independence, the side-by-side stance of the people of these two countries in difficult times is also another fact. However, seeing this fact in person and reading it from people's eyes makes people happy.

It was exciting to be invited to an event where official information about Pakistan's economic, political and cultural situation was given by the most authoritative people (Between 23 February - 02 March 2024). However, when we went to Pakistan, the hospitality and sincere attention we received made us even happier. Indeed, the people of Pakistan, due to their beliefs and traditions, have an extremely peaceful and hospitable mentality, and you can see this mentality everywhere you go. Unfortunately, Pakistani people do not deserve the false propaganda deliberately produced in the international media with the aim of putting Pakistan under pressure. Pakistan is a safe and peaceful country as long as there is no intentional intervention from outside. We felt this personally in every street and avenue we went to, including at night, during our stay in Pakistan.

Efforts to create intentional perception have become widespread and need to be examined carefully academically.

As a result of a little research we conducted, for example, according to the figures of the "United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)", Pakistan is well below the USA in annual intentional killings per 100 thousand people. For the USA, this rate is approaching 23.000 people per year (2021), while in Pakistan it is 8000 people (2018). Even if we consider that the US population is slightly higher than Pakistan, the numbers in Pakistan are still lower than those in the USA. These rates appear to be low in other crimes as well. The issue of preventing attacks against women is an important issue that we should all focus on and prevent, and when an analysis is made according to the population; It has rates such as Africa (3.1), America (1.6), Oceania (1.3), Asia (0.9) and Europe (0.7). When the situation here is evaluated, it can be clearly seen that Asia, along with Europe, has the lowest rates.

In this sense, the number of women killed in attacks against women in Türkiye is around 300 annually. In England, where the fewest murders were committed, 250 women were killed. On the other hand, in the USA, 3000 women were killed in 2019 alone (The Silent Epidemic of Femicide in the US, 10 March 2023). This situation shows us how much we need scientific analysis rather than purposeful prejudices. Pakistan seems to be one of the countries where some malicious people are trying to create wrong judgments these days.

Publications and media propaganda attempts that denigrate, humiliate, and turn the region into enemies are quite common. We have clearly revealed such malevolent publications, which denigrate the people of the region against each other, divide them and pit them against each other, in our work together with high-level academic and diplomatic groups from many countries, with whom we were together during the meeting in Pakistan, and we have emphasized the importance of carrying out enlightening studies to prevent this. Perhaps this was one of the most useful aspects of the meeting. Knowing each other correctly enables us to solve problems at the very beginning.

The main problem in the Asian continent is that the ties between people and countries have been broken. Today, the Asian continent, along with the African continent, is one of the regions with the weakest transportation network. It takes days to reach from one country to another by air, let alone by land. This clearly demonstrates that the academics who participated in our study from Nepal, which is very close to Pakistan, arrived after a journey that lasted almost a day. Even comparing the road, rail and air traffic in Europe and North America with Asia is enough to understand this immediately. Why Asian people are wanted to be kept separate from each other is also a separate matter of evaluation. When the obstacle to transportation is added to the already difficult geographical deployment, the picture that emerges reveals why these countries cannot develop and if the situation continues like this, they will not develop from now on either. Attempts to hinder projects aimed at connecting Asian countries can only be malicious. It is not possible for these of such initiatives to be accepted.

Another important issue we identified during our studies was seeing an unfair economic pressure being applied to Pakistan. Due to its geographical location, Pakistan is a country that has experienced the difficulties experienced by the Afghan people since the Soviet occupation that started in 1979 and the subsequent US intervention in the region. We also know that Pakistan has no role in creating this troubled process. In this process, Pakistan's contributions to maintaining regional stability are obvious. Pakistan was treated very unfairly and paid a heavy price in this matter for which it was not responsible. Despite this, it is unacceptable that these efforts are ignored, and that pressures and veiled embargoes are applied to Pakistan just because it is implementing projects aimed at its economic development. This is a great injustice to Pakistan and its people.

Pakistan's economy and resources have great potential going forward. And the surrounding countries. It is clear that accepting this potential and mobilizing it appropriately will create great opportunities. At this point, it is a fact that ensuring stability in Afghanistan and the cooperation of countries such as Pakistan, India and Iran will make significant contributions to increasing the welfare of the people of these countries.

Türkiye's mediating role in ensuring peace in this region is important. However, such an idea could change the fate of the region. It requires strong and philosophical leaders and thinkers to see this truth by governments that have vision and think about the future of their people, and to produce discourses aimed at peaceful, rather than hostile, relations between peoples. About this matter, not about war, violence or hatred; we need conciliatory approaches. Otherwise, the people of the region will continue to experience similar pain and difficulties caused by economic weakness even decades later.

Türkiye, which is very close to the region culturally, economically and historically, has a lot to do in creating such an environment of peace and prosperity, as it has done so far. Türkiye knows these regions and knows the people and their cultures closely. A businessman we met in Pakistan, when he learned that we were Türks, told him that his grandmother with the other woman had taken off their bracelets, rings and necklaces and sent them to Anatolia during the Türkish War of Independence, when he was a child. It touched us as much as, and it was also important in terms of revealing closeness. True friends appear in bad and needy times. In this sense, it is obvious that Türkiye sees this closeness from the Pakistani administration and people in every problem it experiences. This also applies to Pakistan. According to our historical and anthropological studies, our cultural affinity with Pakistan has an unbreakable depth of more than 2 thousand years. Our way of thinking and our common values ​​like Mevlana make this even stronger and bring us closer to each other.

We know Pakistan and they know Türkiye. We already know that the unrealistic perception created against Pakistan is purposeful. It is great to get to know the rich culture of this country. We also respect Pakistan's attempts to ensure peace and stability in its surroundings. In addition to rediscovering cultural richness, there are many initiatives we need to take without delay in the field of economic cooperation. One of these is the mutual coming together of our businessmen and the determination and implementation of common investment areas for the region and the future. Undoubtedly, such cooperation; It will contribute to the creation of a regional security and stability environment and, as an exemplary model, will also increase the welfare of the people of the region in the medium and long term.