ISLAMABAD: The Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) Pakistan and the National Dialogue Forum (NDF) arranged a ceremony in Islamabad to screen a mini-docuseries to highlight the sufferings and hardships of Afghan refugees in Pakistan, and their achievements as role models despite all odds.
Documentary on achievements
The documentary series “The Refugee Stories: Lives of the Afghan Refugees in Pakistan” highlighted the struggle and achievement of the Afghan refugees as community leaders and role models who have excelled in adversity.
Addressing the ceremony, HSF Pakistan Resident Representative Dr Steffen Kudella said that they wanted to strengthen the regional stability in Pakistan and Afghanistan through mutual understanding and cooperation.”
he said that they believed that Afghans in Pakistanis were agents of positive change both in Pakistan and Afghanistan and they could contribute substantially to peace, democracy and development.
Dr Steffen explained the idea behind the initiative saying it aimed to offer Afghan refugees a platform to share their personal experiences with the world and further use these experiences to guide the future orientation of our work in Pakistan.
Dr Steffen said that they were hoping that the situation in Afghanistan improves soon, and hoped that the country can be rebuilt one day. Dr Steffen said that you can do good and contribute to society even in the most difficult situations.
He said that the project was jointly created by the National Dialogue Forum, the HSF and IBEX Productions as part of their activities on regional dialogue with Afghan and Pakistani stakeholders.
Role of HSF in Pakistan
Explaining the role of HSF-Pakistan, Dr Kudella said that democracy, peace and development were also the goals of the HSF.
He said that the HSF, the oldest German political foundation in Pakistan, will commemorate its 40th birthday in Pakistan next year.
He said that their projects in Pakistan aimed to promote good governance, expertise in sustainable development and regional dialogue, besides supporting talented Pakistani and Afghan scholars and students.
Earlier, National Dialogue Forum Executive Director Shaharyar Khan said that their main objective of documentary was to highlight human stories of Afghan refugees living in Pakistan.
He said that they wanted to give the refugees a voice to highlight their achievements and contributions to society. The new project aimed to remove the stigma around the word “refugee, promoting social cohesion between Afghans and Pakistanis.
He said that the documentary series was their small contribution to removing the misconceptions regarding Afghan refugees documentary.
Shaharyar said that the project also highlights the struggles and successes of the Afghan refugees as role models and community leaders, who have excelled despite odds and adversity. APP
