By Zara Khan

Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service

Georgetown University

Washington, DC: Pakistani students from all across the United States embarked on an unprecedented mission to unite and create a National Pakistan Students Association (National PSA). The Embassy of Pakistan hosted the event in Washington, DC, attracting over 100 students from 29 universities across the US on Friday, April 9, 2004.

DCM Mohammad Sadiq addresses the gathering

The initial contacts made for the event were through email and telephone calls. After months of preparation involving teleconferences and smaller meetings, the conference finally brought together PSAs from all over the nation. They ranged from schools such as UCLA, which had the largest active PSA of over 500 members, to Georgetown University, which has only a handful of Pakistani students. A National PSA provides the opportunity for participants to organize and later mobilize their own student populations.

At the meeting, the attending PSAs unanimously decided to create a National PSA. They created a mission statement “to align the goals and interests of its constituents in order to promote interaction, networking, and the visibility of its members.” By closely linking PSAs in the United States through the creation of a countrywide organization, the group members seek to increase leverage and gain influence.

Representatives of each PSA at the national conference will report back to their respective chapters to elect one student as a member of the National PSA’s Board of Directors. In addition, to allow for the constituents to focus on a variety of important issues, eight committees were formed: the Political Activism Committee, Cultural Activities Committee, Human Development Committee, Community Liason Committee, Drafting Committee, Events Committee, and Media and Public Relations Committee. Hyder Syed of Johns Hopkins University and Nadia Naviwala of Georgetown University were elected to serve as co-chairs of the National PSA.

At the conference, Hyder Syed was the master of ceremonies and Nadia Naviwala made the closing remarks. A representative of each university shared his or her views and optimism for the National PSA. The representatives proposed ideas such as a newsletter, a website, and regional conferences to be held in cities all over the United States.

Pakistan’s Deputy Chief of Mission, Mr. Mohammed Sadiq, made the opening remarks. He emphasized the importance of creating a national network to leverage influence. He said networking is imperative because it will help improve the effectiveness of PSAs. Through networking, students can pool not only their resources, but also their ideas. Although PSAs already arrange cultural programs, they will be able to effectively arrange political and educational forums with exposure to more groups and students around the country.

Mr. Sadiq said that fundraising and community service activities will help create a social awareness dimension to PSAs. By organizing on a national level, PSAs can credit themselves on affecting greater change than they could with smaller, local projects. A national organization will help smaller PSAs gain credibility on their campuses and help them access new ideas as well as resources. Additionally, it will help motivate Pakistani Americans to create their own PSAs if one is not already established at their universities.

Regional conferences, seminars, workshops, weekend retreats, scholarships, and summer programs in Pakistan are among the long term objectives of the National PSA. Current PSAs can work together to create Pakistan chairs, influence their respective universities to introduce more Pakistan-related classes, project Pakistani-American professors, invite Pakistani speakers, and create study abroad programs in Pakistan.

In order for the National PSA to be successful, dedication and determination of students from all backgrounds is required. Whether from the East Coast or the West Coast, the Midwest or the Deep South “everyone here is a founding member of the organization,” said co-chair Hyder Syed, “and because of this, I am certain we have a bright future ahead of us.”

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