Knowledge Park to open new vistas: minister

LAHORE
Punjab Minister for Education Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan has said the Knowledge Park being set up in Lahore having campuses of prestigious local and foreign educational institutions will open new vistas of development and economic prosperity.
Speaking at the third meeting of the Board of Directors of Lahore Knowledge Park Company (LKPC), he further said the Punjab government was utilising all the available resources for the promotion of education. He said Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC) Chairman Dr Nizamuddin, Chairman Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board (PCTB) Lt Gen (r) Muhammad Akram, Vice-Chancellor Lahore University of Management Sciences Sohail Naqvi, Secretary Higher Education Mrs Iram Bukhari, CEO LKPC Shahid Khan and other officials concerned attended the meeting.
The education minister added that quality higher education was a key to development and economic prosperity adding the establishment of the Knowledge Park would prove a milestone for achieving this purpose. He also said the knowledge parks played an important role in the development of any country adding due to the Knowledge Park at Lahore opportunities would be available to the students for getting education at renowned international universities.
Rana Mashhood further remarked that the provision of quality education was an effective weapon for coping with challenges being faced by the country and government was taking a number of steps for this purpose. He advised that steps be taken for completing the Lahore Knowledge Park project at the earliest.
The board of directors of the Knowledge Park also gave an approval to the heads of various committees. Vice-Chancellor LUMS Sohail Naqvi will head the HR Committee, Lt Gen (r) Muhammad Akram lead the Procurement Committee while Razzaq Dawood will head the Technical Committee.
Later, Rana Mashhood, presiding over a meeting of the overseas Pakistanis of the district Lahore, said the overseas Pakistanis were our ambassadors adding all the possible steps were being taken for solving their problems.
He said due to the efforts of the government the problems of overseas Pakistanis were being resolved on priority basis and the role of overseas Pakistanis Commission was commendable in this regard. The minister also appreciated the role of police for resolving the problems of overseas Pakistanis.
religious places: The Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) and the government of Punjab have decided to work jointly in protecting religious places and shrines of Sikh and Hindus to promote tourism in the country.
According to a press release issued on Tuesday, this was decided in a meeting chaired by Punjab Education and Sports Minister Rana Mashhood and ETPB chairman Siddiq-ul-Farooq.
The meeting was also attended by Managing Director Tourism Department, Director General Archives Punjab, Additional DG LDA, Secretary PMEIF, representatives of World Bank, ETPB secretary and other officials of the Board.
Mashhood informed the participants that the Punjab Chief Minister wanted to promote religious tourism in the province and he was also deeply interested in protecting religious sights and places of Hindu and Sikhs.
He assured the participants that his government would take all measures to protect historic religious places of other religions.
Laptops: Special Assistant to Chief Minister Punjab and Former IG Rana Maqbool Ahmad has said the Punjab government has distributed 217 laptops among public prosecutors of three divisions including Lahore, Gujranwala and Faisalabad in an effort to upgrade the prosecution department on modern lines.
In the first phase of upgrade, all the 36 districts of the province and special trainings will also be imparted to prosecutors.
Rana Maqbool expressed these views while addressing the ceremony of laptop distribution at the secretary prosecution office. Secretary Prosecution Syed Ali Murtaza, Prosecutor General Punjab Ehtisham Qadir and senior officers of the department were also present.
He said the Punjab government was taking effective measures to train the public prosecutors and enhance their capacity. He said the department was trying to provide the prosecutors with modern training for dispensation of timely and effective justice.
He instructed the prosecutors to work with devotion to serve the oppressed. He said the Criminal Prosecution Department Punjab had started the Forensic and Digital Evidence Training Programme for its prosecutors.
It is pertinent to mention that the criminal prosecution department Punjab was established in 2006.
The department has succeeded in its goal as the success rate in convicting the criminals is 91 percent in Punjab this year. The criminal investigation scenario is changing rapidly in Pakistan therefore the department has decided to induct officers into the department with latest gadgets and modern training.