PSNT (Pakistan Society of North Texas) Should Be Disbanded
28 January 2014
By Saeed Qureshi
My considered opinion is that PSNT (Pakistan Society
of North Texas), a patently white elephant
representative body of the Pakistanis residing in DFW
should be disbanded. I have no grudge against the
stalwarts or officer holders of this merely showoff
organization of expatriate Pakistanis in the
metropolitan region of Dallas and Forthwith. They are
good looking glamorous individuals dressed in fine and
custom made sartorial elegance and enjoying lot of
clout and goodwill among the Pakistani and even in
Indians community. I am purely talking about the
efficacy and usefulness of this good- for- nothing
outfit that somehow looks like pain in the neck or a
kind of redundant body that if dissolved would not
bring any harm to the Pakistanis as it is not
dispensing any good either.
The best or the distinctive role that the PSNT has
been focused on is to hold two functions once a year.
One is Pakistan's Independence Day on 14 August. The
other is Pakistan Day on March 23 in commemoration of
the passing of the Pakistan Resolution in 1940 at
Lahore. These are very laudable programs but what
else? A representative society as the PSNT is ought to
address the social, economic, legal, and medical and a
host of other problems of its ethnic groups or the
people hailing from the same country of origin.
Let me mention an incident exposing deliberate apathy
on the part of the incumbent PSNT bosses towards a
distressing humanitarian cause. Last year a poor
lonely Pakistani Junaid Khan died of a heart attack.
While the dead body of Junaid was kept in Rahma
funeral home, a fellow Pakistani Ali Rizvi appealed to
the Pakistani community to donate for sending his dead
body to Pakistan. Only three good hearted
philanthropists offered to bear the expenses for that
cause. The funds apart, the bigwigs of the PSNT did
not even bother to issue a statement of condolence.
In contrast, the same year in the month of March, PSNT
celebrated the Pakistan Day in a posh hotel with lot
of fanfare and gusto. That evening must have cost the
PSNT a good amount of money and this money must have
been collected from the members or shared by the PSNT
executive body. The point to ponder is that while a
grand gala function fits into the priorities of the
PSNT, a humanitarian appeal, first of its kind, was
ignored under the pretext of regulations. It is a
public knowledge that the PSNT has a sizeable amount
deposited in its account.
Now the mandate of such a prestigious entity ought to
bring the people together, cultivate their former
countrymen or those with dual nationality on a variety
of issues ranging from integration to education. It
should hold cultural meets, variety shows depicting
Pakistan dresses and other cultural manifestations. It
can also encourage or patronize cultural fairs, poetic
sessions and celebrate American special days. It
should foster goodwill among the low and high,
advantaged and disadvantaged, educated and uneducated.
It can generate sense of togetherness and loyalty to
both our new and old country of origin. It has to
visit the afflicted people in their homes and meet the
families involved in domestic disputes, help those
with health problems and create pro bono cadres of
Pakistan or South Indian attorneys for legal
assistance. The office bearers should call upon the
people hospitalized due to serious sickness.
When Mr. Irfan Toor was the president of PSNT, he
initiated a useful program of informing the Pakistani
community through a special supplement or magazine
that would detail ongoing programs of PSNT. This
bulletin would be published prior to special days of
Pakistan like Pakistan Day and the Independence Day.
Even otherwise there would be lot of activities and Mr
Toor would take personal interest in promoting
goodwill and keeping in touch with the Pakistani
community. Those days are gone and these are now
merely glamour, feast and music that are observed and
that too at a huge cost and in the company of select
gathering that can pay for costly tickets.
We have observed that special interest groups within
the Pakistan community try to take over the PSNT reins
for perhaps business or personal interests and to be
effective to talk to the local authorities for
benefits and perks and advantages. In the past there
used to be one dominant group that was like a king
maker and any executive body or president could not be
appointed without its approval. During Mr Toor's
tenure perhaps for the first time fair elections were
held. Thereafter and before him, it was only change of
hands and mere transfer of PSNT from one powerful and
elite group to another.
We have also observed that shady tactics and devious
bottlenecks are deliberately created in the way of
holding genuine elections. The lists of the voters are
tempered with on one excuse or another. There must be
thousands of Pakistani origin Americans in DFW but
only a minuscule are members of this otherwise
prestigious body. Why the Pakistanis are not motivated
to take membership and thus making this organization
more powerful to safeguard the interests of the
American Pakistanis? Such a meaningful and far
reaching effort has never been made and a kind of
stale and outdated list is being maintained for the
elections. We all know how the last elections of PSNT
were manipulated and through trickery a special group
was inducted into PSNT.
So when the PSNT is not delivering what it ought to
deliver then better it is disbanded. More productive
are the services of individual philanthropists and
social activist like Dr Basheer Ahmed, Mike Ghouse,
Farooq Khan, Azad Khan, John Hamid, Irfan Ali, Ghulam
Jhangra, Khaliq Qureshi Sahib, and many others whose
record of service to the Pakistani community is much
brighter and profoundly selfless than the PSNT. The
Pakistan community doesn't need a showy organization
to represent them. They need sincere and dedicated
spokespersons and custodians who work hard and
sincerely for the community.
The writer is a senior journalist, former editor of
Diplomatic Times and a former diplomat. His blog is
www.uprightopinion.com
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