“According to CIA’s World Factbook, we [Pakistan] are poised to be the fifth most populous country in the world in a few years. With 60 percent of Pakistan’s 187 million strong population below the age of 24, the youth of Pakistan form a potentially powerful force for change.
We must be nation builders. It is our greatest responsibility and burden. When Jinnah addressed students in Dhaka in 1948, he emphasized education as a priority for young people and said ‘let me give you this word of warning: you will be making the greatest mistake if you allow yourself to be exploited by one political party or another.’ [Muhammad Ali] Jinnah envisioned a modern nation at peace with itself and the world. We must understand that vision instead of siding with obscurantist’s and hyper-national isolationists.”
~Shehrbano Taseer ’10
Shehrbano Taseer graduated from Smith College with a B.A. in Government and Film Studies. A native of Pakistan, Taseer is currently the Social Media Director at Daily Times Pakistan and a journalist for Newsweek. Her father, Salmaan Taseer served as the governor of the province of Punjab from 2008 until his assassination in early 2011. Shehrbano Taseer is continuing her father’s work and speaks out against the forces that killed her father and against laws that persecute in the name of religion. She has been lauded as “an international voice for the victims of extremism and religious intolerance.”
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