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Tuesday March 19, 2024

Children interact with political leaders,civil society members

KarachiArt and music play a vital role to eliminate hate and detestation and promote peace and tranquility in society. Children and youth of the present times are fortunate to live in a moderate Pakistan where social and cultural activities are being promoted to become a progressive and enlightened society.Dr Arif

By Najam Soharwardi
May 31, 2015
Karachi
Art and music play a vital role to eliminate hate and detestation and promote peace and tranquility in society. Children and youth of the present times are fortunate to live in a moderate Pakistan where social and cultural activities are being promoted to become a progressive and enlightened society.
Dr Arif Alvi, an MNA of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), shared these views while participating in an interactive section between schoolchildren, political leaders and civil society members on Friday.
The I Am Karachi consortium organised the session titled “What has become of my Karachi?” at Rangoonwala Auditorium where children of various schools participated in large numbers.
Alvi said there was lack of teaching about art and music when he was a school-going student.
“I wish we were also taught art and music when we were school-going kids,” he said. “It’s now our responsibility to inculcate a softer side of life in our children to let them enjoy a peaceful and tolerant society.”
The PTI leader said he was jubilant to see a large number of girls’ representation and hoped they would play a significant role in building the future of Pakistan.
Answering a query, he said the elected representatives were responsible for child labour in their constituencies and they must be questioned for criminal negligence.
He said 60 percent of the Pakistanis did not have sufficient food for a proper dinner and many children were compelled to labour to earn bread and butter for their families.
“No social worker or organisation can eliminate child labour unless the government takes effective measures to get rid of the problem,” he said. “You have to elect honest and competent representatives who can understand your issues and resolve them. If you keep on electing those candidates who only protect their personal agenda and promote ethnic and linguistic discriminations, the situation will not improve.”
Jameel Yusuf, former chief of the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC), said child labour was prohibited legally but the law was not implemented practically.
“The government and the elected representatives are responsible for the child labour, but we as citizens should also boycott such shops where child labour is offered,” he said. “We cannot terminate the problem in one day but we must put our sincere efforts to teach street children according to our resources and capacity.”
Naeem Sadiq, a social activist, while answering a query, criticised inefficiency of the police department. He said the department was serving influential political leaders and bureaucrats instead of performing their duties independently.
“Society is raising voice against the corruption and political recruitments in the police department, but we need to speak more loudly to make the department perform independently,” he said. “Forty percent of the policemen render their whole day services to protect only 200 influential people in a city like Karachi where citizens are killed and robbed every day.”
He said it was unfortunate that many elected representatives were tax defaulters. “Our system is too complex to let an honest man enter the arena of power where he could wipe out the dirt of corruption and malpractices,” he said.
Sadiq criticised the government for issuing an excessive number of licences of weapons and not keeping a proper record of it.
“Civilians almost possess 20 million weapons and only three to four percent of them are issued genuine licences,” he said.
He also criticised the announcement that schoolteachers and children would be trained to use weapons to make sure their defence. He said instead of deweaponising the country and taking effective measures to stop terrorist attacks, the authorities were introducing a wrong way of rescue.
The schoolchildren presented presentations, music and art to highlight the objectives of the I Am Karachi campaign.