Saifullah Khan Nyazee, chief organizer of Pakistan's ruling party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), speaks in an exclusive interview with Xinhua in Islamabad, Pakistan, March 19, 2021. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal)
by Li Hao, Misbah Saba Malik
ISLAMABAD, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Only those selfless ones would dedicate themselves to improving people's living standards, and every country across the world needs a leader of the kind, a Pakistani politician has said.
Quoting remarks from Chinese President Xi Jinping that "For the good of my people, I will put aside my own well-being," Saifullah Khan Nyazee, chief organizer of Pakistan's ruling party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), said Friday that "I think what he means is that he will work for the well-being of his people selflessly, where he himself doesn't matter."
"Dedicating his life to the people to bring up their well-being, that can only be done by a selfless man. He's a selfless man who has worked for his nation. We need such leaders all across the world," Nyazee said, noting that Xi has always put the people front and center.
Nyazee joined the Pakistani party shortly after it was founded in 1996. In March 2019, he was appointed as the party's chief organizer, taking over responsibilities including building up party organizations, formulating its policies, and improving the party constitution.
It is, to a large extent, the ruling party of a country that "can either pull the country together and walk towards prosperity, or drag the country in a terrifying condition," he told Xinhua.
Nyazee said the Communist Party of China (CPC), with its "historic 100 years of excellence," has been following a strict code of conduct, taking root among the people to get a better understanding of their need, and sticking to its fundamental principle of wholeheartedly serving the people.
"Seeing all these things, the people of China believe in the leadership of the CPC, and the belief of the people then encourages the party to do more," which is one reason why the CPC can always maintain its vitality, he said.
The final 98.99 million impoverished rural residents in China living under the current poverty line have been lifted out of poverty. In Nyazee's eyes, this remarkable achievement the CPC has led the Chinese people to achieve is admirable, and the determination shown by the CPC to keep its promise is even more praiseworthy.
He said all countries in the world, rich or poor, got severely hit by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and Western developed countries also suffered a huge setback in development.
Though China, home to a population of more than 1.4 billion, was under great pressure to contain the epidemic and save lives, Nyazee said, "China performed exemplary and created a benchmark for everyone and countries across the globe by helping not only its own citizens but also humanity across the globe."
Facing the challenges posed by COVID-19, the CPC still led China to a complete victory in the fight against poverty, he said, adding, "We also witnessed that this pandemic, being so harsh and cruel, could not stop China's poverty eradication promise made by the Chinese leadership to its people."
He said he had had lots of exchanges with CPC officials and Chinese government officials, among whom many have visited Pakistan.
"The stories that they told us of how they brought about the changes in China are remarkable," he added. "We all need to learn from those. But it's not the same as going and visiting China and seeing things for yourself. And I look forward to visiting China actually."
Nyazee expressed the belief that the CPC considers not only China's own development, but common development with other countries. In working to fight a pandemic like COVID-19 and other adversities, the idea of "building a community with a shared future for mankind" can bring unity among various countries, with the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative as a form of concrete implementation of the idea, he said.
The initiative has been enhancing interconnectivity between different parts of the world, he said.
Nyazee said his party and the CPC enjoys a time-tested relationship featuring mutual trust and companionship, and the two parties have always shared ideas and promoted platforms that can contribute to the well-being of the two peoples and countries.
Both parties are the ruling ones of their countries, and the PTI has a lot to learn from the CPC's experience in governance, he said.
"Our chairman Imran Khan has mentioned it categorically on several occasions, more than a dozen occasions, that whenever it comes to the poverty alleviation, human development, and other institutional reforms which he wishes to bring in Pakistan, he always mentions that the Chinese model should be followed," he added.
Nyazee said the PTI is conducting a systematic study of the CPC's mechanism and has decided to learn from the CPC to enhance the training of cadres at all levels to improve party building, adding that the PTI is building its first-ever party school.
Pakistan and China are "iron brothers," Nyazee said, and the Pakistani government has really been focusing on promoting the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor as it is beneficial not only to the future of Pakistan, but to Pakistan-China relations.
"We should work together for the prosperity and development of our people and explore more and more opportunities further to strengthen the bilateral relations of our two countries," he concluded. Enditem