By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net
New Delhi: In her first visit to India today as United States Special Representative to Muslim Communities, Farah Pandit highlighted President Barack Obama’s vision to build partnerships with Muslim communities across the globe on the basis of mutual interest and mutual respect. She was holding a roundtable with Muslim journalists in New Delhi.
Farah Pandit (second from left)
President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are more than serious about establishing good relations with the Muslim communities on the basis of mutual interest and mutual respect. We are engaging young Muslim generation in dialogues and conversations to build trust and remove misunderstandings, said Kashmir-born Farah Pandit.
Asked how she thinks President Barack Obama’s outreach effort to the Muslim world is successful, she said: We have continued our efforts to reach to the Muslim communities and build relations and remove misconceptions. We are not ticking box to list success points.
She took several questions from the journalists, most of them were from Urdu media, but carefully avoided political issues when repeatedly asked why the US needed to launch such outreach efforts and a special portfolio of United States Special Representative to Muslim Communities. When asked specifically if the move is an admission that some of its foreign policies have gone wrong, she again did not answer clearly.
Some eminent community members including Maulana Umair Ilyasi also came to meet Farah Pandit.
The roundtable was followed by a Qawwali performance.
As Special Representative to Muslim Communities, Pandit is responsible for executing Secretary Clinton’s vision for engagement with Muslims around the world on a people-to-people and organizational level. Prior to this appointment, she was Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs. In this role she was focused on Muslim communities in Europe where she was responsible for policy oversight for integration, democracy, and Islam in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. Pandit was born in Srinagar, Kashmir, India.
Farah Pandit is among top Muslims of Indian descent picked by President Obama in his administration. Ebu Patel and Rashid Hussain are other prominent officials in Obama administration. Obama has recently appointed Hussain as special envoy to OIC.
[TCN photos]