Youth festival concludes after six days of vigorous activities

By News Desk
January 30, 2023

The seven-day Pakistan Youth Festival at the Arts Council of Pakistan concluded on Sunday with a large number of youths attending the closing ceremony.

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Sindh Minister of Culture and Education Syed Sardar Ali Shah was the chief guest at the ceremony that was also attended by Arts Council President Muhammad Ahmad Shah and members of the governing body.

The ceremony featured musical performances by various bands and renowned singers such as Ahmed Jahanzeb, Sahir Ali Bagga, Ali Azmat, Natasha Baig, Wahab Bugti, Afaq Adnan, Arman Rahim, Ahsan Bari and JamBroz band.

Cash prizes and awards were also distributed to the winners of 10 different competitions and two special competitions of painting and photography held during the earlier six days of the festival. Special accolades were also given to the children with special needs who had participated in the event.

Addressing the closing ceremony, Sardar said that 64 per cent of Pakistan's population consisted of youth. He added that in the absence of any formal government policy for the youths, our youths had performed well at the festival organised by the Arts Council.

He lauded the Arts Council administration for holding such events that would also help counter intolerance and extremism in the country. “We have to get out of this complex that only doctors, engineers and officers are successful,” the education and culture minister said, adding that artistes like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Atif Aslam and Hadiqa Kayani were also successful persons.

He said dance had been part of the culture of the Indus Valley since ancient era. In this context, the education department decided to appoint 750 music teachers, he added. He remarked that Ahmad Shah had made the Arts Council a hub of culture. "I don't see any institution in the whole country which is working like this for the promotion of arts and culture,” he stated.

He said those youths must be encouraged who participated in extracurricular activities along with their curricular activities. He added that he could see youths belonging to the middle class in large numbers at the festival.

Meanwhile, Arts Council President Ahmad Shah said that all the children involved in the special children's programme had performed brilliantly. He added that Nighat Chaudhry and Wahab Shah had encouraged the children in the dance finals.

He explained that the Arts Council had started the youth festival 16 years ago. Ahmad Shah said that keeping in view lack of employment opportunities for the youth, they would start offering IT soon for those who could not afford it.

He told the youths to have trust in themselves as the world belonged to them. He also thanked schools, colleges, and universities for lending support to the event. The Arts Council president asked the youth to focus on their education because through education, they could change the future of the country.

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