Pakistan Society of North Texas and Elections

The Dallas Pakistani community has gone through ups and downs and at times has become dysfunctional. Every year for the last twenty years, I have witnessed hyper tensions and conspiratorial politics playing its role. Of course that is human and each one of the Desi communities has gone through the same issues, but most have put their organizations on the right path whether they are nationalistic or religious. It is time for the Pakistani community to take that step. Continued: http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2013/01/pakistan-society-of-north-texas-and_1.html

Good signs are showing up at the local Pakistani community, they have just released a list of 858 life members on line; this is the kind of transparency that must be admired, it is a good step in the right direction. 

As communities, we need to appreciate everyone who has served the respective community in one form or the other, and each one must be acknowledged for his or her contribution towards the growth of their community.

As a Member of the Dallas Desi (pronounced They-see), that is the people of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, I have always considered as one community despite the political differences.

The Pakistani community has gone through ups and downs and at times has become dysfunctional. Every year for the last twenty years, I have witnessed hyper tensions and conspiratorial politics playing its role. Of course that is human and I have witnessed that in each one of the Desi communities, whether they are nationalistic or religious, they have the same issues.

Most Non-profit organizations have a hierarchical system to ensure stability and continuity of its policies. Where a slate of candidates is elected, and as the president completes his term and exits, his VP becomes the President, and VP’s position is filled by the Secretary or the treasurer.  However, Pakistan society follows the other system where a new body gets elected every time, and decides its own agenda. As a result continuity and stability is compromised.

The current administration wanted to bring that change for the better, and it got shot down, without any serious discussion or a committee formed to put a report together, instead, personal attacks have increased.

 I have been a part of most of the organizations in Dallas, and feel the anguish and pain they endure, and appeal to each one of you to seriously think about this: When you write or comment about Dallas Pakistanis, write what they have contributed, instead of tearing each other down, and everyone can be torn down! What's the point?

Those who are smart understand that you don't build a community by tearing the other, but by uplifting each other. Pakistan society is not a country, or a secret service agency, for God’s sake, it is merely a service organization and every one’s service must be appreciated. If each one gets down to discrediting the other, at the end of the day, every one of you becomes a bum per the other. Shouldn’t this change? Are you willing to be the change?

Start thinking in terms of Obama representing 100%, instead of Romney representing just 47%.  Each one of you, whether you are a leader or not, consider representing the entire community, absorbing each other’s flaws, and protecting and covering each other... Each one of you is a bahadur, and you can do it.

I urge the North Texas Pakistani Media leaders like John, Amina, Saeed, Pervaz, Shah, Raja, Sajjad, Mona (in no particular order) and others to pave the way and bring about a positive change.  Let your media become a model of uniting people.

I have nothing to gain from any of this but a few insults, I really don’t care, all I care is all of us, every one of us on the planet to learn to respect the otherness of other and accept the God given uniqueness of each one of us. I consider the time spent in building bridges is the right thing to do and not a waste of time.

We have a forum, one of the oldest communication forums for the Dallas Pakistanis, as it is there for Indians, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans and Nepalese; it has just entered its 20^th year, and is a continuation of the Asian News Magazine that began in 1993 and Asian News Radio which commenced in 1996. 

If you are a Pakistani, you are welcome to join the forum by sending an email to: DallasPakistanis-Subscribe@yahoogroups.com . It is a moderated forum to keep an open discussion and prevent spam, advertisers and non-contributory gossip.

Mike Ghouse

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Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, peace, Islam, Israel, India, interfaith, and cohesion at work and social settings. He is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day at www.TheGhousediary.com. Mike has a strong presence on national and local TV, Radio and Print Media. He is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity show on Fox TV, and a commentator on national radio networks, he contributes weekly to the Texas Faith Column at Dallas Morning News, fortnightly at Huffington post, and several other periodicals across the world. His personal site www.MikeGhouse.net indexes everything you want to know about him.