By Hira Nafees Shah

The fifth annual National Executive Committee meeting of the 12 local chapters of the Pakistan-U.S Alumni Network (PUAN) took place from January 31 to February 1 in Islamabad.

During the meeting, the presidents, general secretaries, and finance secretaries highlighted their achievements in the past year, and elaborated on their chapters’ plans for 2015.  The alumni also offered condolence prayers for the nominee for post of Gawadar chapter president Zahid Askani and APS School’s Principal Tahira Qazi, both of whom lost their lives in attacks on educational institutions in recent months.

“PUAN acted as a family at the time of Tahira Qazi’s passing,” said Faisal Shehzad, KP/FATA Chapter President. “We also noticed that after such incidents in the past, there used to be a sense of fear in the country but now there is a sense of anger.”

“I decided to stay on in my position as the Gwadar finance secretary, because Zahid Askani had said to me that we would form the best PUAN team across Pakistan and I wanted to carry his vision forward,” said Naeema Mazar, Gwadar chapter’s representative while remembering her slain colleague.

U.S. Assistant Cultural Affairs Attaché James Cerven also paid homage to PUAN chapters, including the Gwadar chapter, for their courage in continuing to work for the people of Pakistan despite security challenges.  He also touched upon a few crucial rules that he instructed the NEC members to implement in order to ensure safe and smooth administration of events in their respective chapters.  This information is available on the PUAN blog, and has been incorporated as a new question regarding security in each small grant and chapter activity plan application.

NEC Members Benefit from the Meeting

“The NEC meeting has been very useful because it has cleared our perception of what kind of activities we can do in PUAN,” said Gul Khan Naseer, Quetta Chapter President. “It has also given us a good opportunity to develop linkages, so that we can plan some future activities with other chapters.”

“I really liked the NEC because a report was presented on this forum about the performance of all chapters and everyone was free to share their ideas and suggestions,” said Asma Mohsin, the Islamabad chapter’s General Secretary.

An important component of the performance of all Pakistan-U.S Alumni Network’s local bodies is how they deal with financial matters. In this regard, Sarfraz Khan, Finance Officer for the USEFP-PUAN Office gave a very constructive presentation on the documents that the chapters need to submit after they successfully complete their activities.

Another highlight of the conference was the revisions that were made in the constitution of the Pakistan-U.S Alumni Network. These changes not only clarified the responsibilities of various PUAN positions, but also brought the document up-to-date.

“The constitutional amendments were very important as they had not been made since the first NEC,” said Saba Bashir, Lahore Chapter’s Finance Secretary. “Since then PUAN has evolved a lot, included more and more alumni and every document needs to be changed with the passage of time.”  The newly amended constitution will also be made available on the PUAN blog.

Country President Elected

One by one the NEC members slipped pieces of paper into a bag, as the Islamabad/Rawalpindi  Alumni Coordinator Shahid Waseem made the round. Three chapter presidents had volunteered to take on the responsibilities of the country president but after the voting, Karachi chapter president Faisal Malik emerged triumphant with a landslide victory.

“I am grateful to Allah that all the other chapters have trusted me and have voted for me,” he said. “It is a big responsibility and I plan to open more doors for alumni.”

Meanwhile, a presentation by USEFP-PUAN Communication Officer Hira Nafees Shah on how members of the alumni network should deal with social media brought the message home that all alumni needed to be vigilant about their online security, while sharing success stories from their exchange experiences.

The NEC members also selected the theme of ‘Peace’ for their country project in 2015. They decided that the 12 chapters could decide what activities they wanted to conduct, provided they remained within the ambit of the topic.

As the meeting wound up, some of the participants were already eagerly looking forward to the future.

“I believe youth should take leadership and young emerging leaders should come forward,” said Sana Khowaja, Jamshoro chapter President. “Therefore, I decided to run for an elected position in PUAN, because I feel I can be a role model for girls who cannot come forward due to societal constraints.”

“I want to conduct medical camps for refugees and internally displaced people in Kashmir,” said Jamshaid Naqvi, AJK Chapter’s President. “I also want to work with sanitary workers.”

“In 2015, we are planning to visit Old Homes and have decided to work with disabled children and trans-genders,” said Samra Shakir, Multan chapter’s Finance Secretary.

To check out the photographs from the event, visit:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pakusalumni/sets/72157650227429910/