Distinguished guests, faculty, valued members of the AKU community and my fellow graduands, I am deeply honored to welcome you all today on behalf of the Aga Khan University's Class of 2023.

I am the granddaughter of a man who came from a small village in India, migrated to Pakistan and struggled day and night to support his family. I am the granddaughter of a woman who could not go to school. So I acutely recognize the weight of my words when I say we are graduating from AKU, the acronym that speaks for itself, with all its notable alumni, the physicians, nurses, researchers, and educationists – a community we will soon join.

Like several other pages and chapters of our life book; here is another one; the day we graduate; the very moment we all had been waiting for. I am grateful for the memories we've created, lifelong friendships we have made and the invaluable lessons we've learned. In my classmates, I see boundless potential, and in every single one of you – a leader. AKU has prepared us to face challenges with agility, perseverance, and courage.

I would like to express my gratitude to those who made this journey possible; our chancellor whose vision guided us, our phenomenal faculty and mentors, our ever-supportive parents, who made countless sacrifices to ensure our success, and of course our friends, who have been the strongest pillars of support; Thank you!

Every single one of us sitting here has experienced loss or grief or sacrifice in one way or other over the past few years. We lost a very dear faculty, our very own student; Yet we are all here, with our friends and family and we are very much alive. And if that isn’t the definition of resilience, I don’t know what is. We have also embraced the importance of being humanitarians, especially in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

My fellow graduands, each of us carries the legacy within. With a diploma in hand and a burning passion in our hearts, together, let’s illuminate the world. Today, as you celebrate this joyous occasion in your beautiful green regalia, you symbolize hope for millions who lack access to education and healthcare. They need you.

We are the AKU family, and this family will always have our backs. Let us have the audacity to hope that saving one life, changing one story, bringing one smile, is more than enough. May God bless our hands with the power to heal, our hearts with boundless empathy, and our words with the gift of hope. Today marks not an end - rather a new beginning. Let’s make history.

In the spirit of our school, I leave you with the words of poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, alive with the brave hope that inequity will fall, love and justice will prevail; roughly translated to:

"Every crown will be flung,

Every throne brought down,

It is absolute that we shall witness,

We shall witness."

Congratulations class of 2023 - we all did it! Thank you.