All the way from Pakistan to Denmark(1)

Flying all the way from Karachi, Pakistan, landed at the Københavns Lufthavn, Kastrup Airport on 19th January 2011 to participate in the semester studies, forty minutes from the capital Copenhagen.

For Pakistanis, it is arduous to get a visa of Denmark and there was a long wait before I finally received my passport. It is lamentable to know that the Norwegian embassy in Pakistan has denied visa to fellow Pakistani talented youngsters who were selected to attend an international youth peace festival in Norway to be held in February 2011. They refused me the visa in the year 2007 for the same event. Their reasons for the refusal of visa to attend a peace event, an event that has the objective to bring youth from around the world at one platform for peace are absolutely absurd and illegitimate. It is therefore pivotal that both the governments of Denmark and Norway review their stringent visa policies in order to make botheration free visa process for the youth of Pakistan. Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Pakistan must raise this issue at diplomatic levels with the respective countries, but for this to happen, those Pakistanis who were selected out of thousands of applicants should collectively act now.

However, now that I am here in Denmark, it is time to talk about building the bridges of friendship between Pakistan and Denmark.
Danes are fun loving people and I have met with youths here who have all the ingredients to be the future leaders of Denmark. In Pakistan, I know there are number of young people who are doing remarkable voluntary work and despite various impediments, in situation of conflict, they are standing together for peace loving society. This is the young generation that we don’t talk much about, they are the silent majority, they are the ones who will take our countries to new heights and will open new chapters of our friendship.

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