Monsoon rains inundated Pakistan in July this year, leaving over 20 million people affected.
As winter approaches, 2 million hectares of crops have been lost and the damage and destruction of 2 million homes has left 7 million people without shelter. Disease is now setting in creating even more despair in Pakistan. Malaria is steadily on the rise, and increasing numbers of people suffering from acute diarrhoea, respiratory infections and skin diseases are being reported. Polio among children is also on the increase despite a massive immunization campaign.
Photo: http://www.unmultimedia.org/photo
Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd, visiting Pakistan in September – less than a week into his new portfolio – called Pakistan a ‘slow burn’ disaster. Since July there has been an upsurge in bombings and there are now grave concerns that radical insurgents are filling the vacuum left by the international community’s slow response to Pakistan’s catastrophic floods.
Asialink’s Pakistan Forum brings together expertise across this complex scenario: from development to human security, the Pakistan government’s response, and the surge in threats to security.
Speakers
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HE Fauzla Nasreen - High Commissioner of Pakistan
Her Excellency Ms Fauzla Nasreen has been with the Foreign Service of Pakistan since 1973. Before commencing her post in Australia, Ms Nasreen served as Director-General of the Foreign Services Academy ((2007-09) and was Ambassador to Poland (2002-06) and Ambassador to Nepal (1999-2002). Prior to that she undertook diplomatic assignments in Tehran, Kuala Lumpur, Manila and Rome. Ms Nasreen holds a Masters in English Literature and was a Visiting Fellow at Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford University in 1988-89.
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Mustafa Qadri - Freelance Journalist
Mustafa Qadri is based in Pakistan where he writes for international newspapers, journals and web-based news outlets. He is a regular columnist for The Guardian (UK) and correspondent for The Diplomat, Australia’s only dedicated commercial foreign affairs ezine. He can regularly be heard on Radio National and is published in the Los Angeles Times, The Australian, The Age, and The National newspapers. Mustafa’s work can also be read on Reuters AlertNet and World Politics Review and he is a regular Pakistan consultant for Human Rights Watch, School of Oriental & African Studies (London), and Oxford Analytica. He was formerly a lawyer specialising in public international law and worked with Australia’s Attorney-General’s Department before undertaking two years research at University College, London.
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Dr Nadeem Mailk - Development Studies Program Coordinator, The University of Melbourne
Dr Nadeem Malik is a development expert with 20 years of work experience in the field. His major areas of specialization are Third World development, globalization and development, gender and development, governance, civil society and the state, decentralization or local governance, project and program management and monitoring and evaluation of development projects. He is also interested in the anthropology of development and development and social theory, and has published on Pakistani politics, economics and development, and the Pakistani diaspora in Australia. His most recent book is Citizens and Government in Pakistan: the analysis of people’s voices (2009).
Moderated by Linda Mottram from Radio Australia
| TIME: |
6.00pm - 7.30pm |
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| VENUE: | Yasuko Hiraoka Myer Room | |
| Level 1, Sidney Myer Asia Centre |
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| The University of Melbourne |
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| (Corner of Swanston Street & Monash Road - Gate 4) |
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| RSVP by: |
Monday 8th November |
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| ENQUIRIES: |
Mila Sudarsono |
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| m.sudarsono@asialink.unimelb.edu.au |
REGISTER ONLINE