Convener, World Minorities Alliance (WMA) and Former Federal Minister for Population Welfare of Pakistan, Julius Salik on Saturday held a special exhibition of portraits of world renowned leaders at Abraham Lincoln’s monuments to pay tribute and eulogies their services for their nation and mankind.
Salik said the cause of his campaign is also the same that is to manage funds to support the marginalized and downtrodden people of the society.
Julius Salik famously J. Salik has some 28 special oil paintings created by his late brother Markus Salik who was a self-made artist that are a tribute to the great leaders of different faiths who fought for democracy, minorities rights and advocated religious harmony.
J. Salik said the portraits made by his brother included that of the Head of Catholic Church, Pope Francis, Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, first U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther king Jr, George W. Bush, Imam-e-Kaba Abdul Rahman Ibn Abdul Aziz al-Sudais, and a special photograph of Princess of Wales Lady Diana that was captured during her visit to Riyadh.
He said Markus had attained mastery in fine arts by spending his time in the Libraries, exploring different artists and reading about their biographies, viewing their work analytically was his daily routine.
His photographs were exhibited by the Governor in many countries like France, Germany,
Egypt and the United States of America, J. Salik said.
The list of the portraits to his credit is long but some of the portraits of renowned
personalities of the world includes;
Lady Diana, Prince Charles, George W Bush, King of Jordan, Ameer of Kuwait, Ameer
of Bahrain, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and many more, he said.
Commenting on the exhibition, he said, “I am holding a huge conference tomorrow on Global Interfaith Harmony tomorrow amid pressing times when violence against minorities is at an alarming level in the western civilized societies.”
He said throughout his 47-year long career of activism and struggle for human rights he strongly defended the cause of equal rights for all without any discrimination.
The portraits, he said would help him bring attention of the leaders and the masses alike towards the efforts of the great personalities leading from Pope Francis to Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais and Martin Luther who all spoke the language of peace, mutual respect, tolerance, patience, respect and equality for all.
J Salik on the occasion, demanded the government of Pakistan to appoint Ambassador (R) Zafar Hilaly as foreign minister and Cardinal Joseph Coutts as Pakistan’s ambassador to the US to start his international campaign to write off the country’s International Monetary Fund (IMF) through effective diplomacy.
He said his nominees namely Mr Hilaly was the son of a seasoned diplomat and nephew of the former foreign minister Agha Shahi.
However, the other nominee of Cardinal Coutts was again a great match due to his highly esteemed stature in the Roman Catholic Christian community.
He said the nominees of Mr Hilaly and Cardinal Coutts would help him achieve the goal of his campaign to write off the country’s debts.