Saturday 20 / April / 2024
Muscat: “I have received the kind of love I did not imagine from my own people, and from the general Omani population. So this journey has been very interesting. It has been a learning process.”
On the 70th Independence Day of Pakistan, the Ambassador of Pakistan to Oman, Ali Javed, spoke to TimesTV about completing his first year in office, and what Oman means to him.
In the last year, the ambassador has launched numerous initiatives to connect with the Pakistani expatriates in Oman. “I have made it my mission that I will connect to the 272,000 Pakistanis living in the country,” he added.
One such initiative was to start the Embassy newsletter. “I felt the need to introduce Embassy newsletters, which showcase Pakistani institutions. It showcases bilateral activity, but most of the space on my newsletter is dedicated to the youth.”
He also launched the Young Pakistan Forum Oman to showcase the endless brilliance and talent of young Pakistanis in Oman. “After India, Pakistan has one of the largest youth populations on the planet. We are ranked fifth in the world and we always talk about what to do for the younger generation. And therefore, I thought, why not introduce a forum that will be managed by youngsters?”
Speaking about the functioning of the forum, Javed said, “It’s all online, people are going to register themselves voluntarily, either in the resource pool or in the steering committees and then they will be connected. For example, anyone can be connected to one of our leading lawyers in this country, and speak to him about whether they should or should not take up law as a profession.”
The Embassy of Pakistan is open to all Pakistani expatriates in Oman who need their grievances to be addressed. “I have a dedicated number kept in the ambassador’s office for people who don’t have the luxury of using internet on their phone, they can send me text messages and then I have 25,000 people connecting with me via email and WhatsApp. In every possible manner, anybody can come and approach us and we on every single matter have been able to help many people who have lost their legal status or had some other issues.”
In order to be in close contact with the Pakistani community, the Embassy started the WhatsApp initiative recently. “That is the very reason of our success and the launch of this completely unparalleled, unmatched initiative of the WhatsApp broadcast. I am now going to try and introduce a one plus one initiative, where if you are on WhatsApp, you’d bring one more person on WhatsApp. The number will rise from 13,000 to 26,000 and from 26,000 to 52,000. My target is 50,000, so I would request all Pakistanis to register themselves on WhatsApp, and it is also going to bring to them their news, the activities of their community and their children,” he explained
All those who want to get in touch with the Embassy can do so on their WhatsApp number, which is: 91980458.
The ambassador also expressed his compassion towards the hardworking Pakistani blue collar workers, which constitute nearly 70 per cent of the Pakistani expat population in Oman. “Every day, I see people wearing their dungarees, who are employed for as low as 100 rials. And they are working with concrete and building roads in 46-47 degrees. So I have a lot of appreciation and respect for these people.”
