LAHORE: Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar has said that the West should learn from Pakistan how to fight terrorism as it has defeated terrorists with the valour and unprecedented sacrifices rendered by Pakistan Army, law enforcement agencies and Pakistani nation.
He was addressing the 129th Convocation of Punjab University here on Saturday in which a total of 1,149 degrees and medals were given away to the graduates. European Union Parliament’s Vice President Fabio Massimo Castaldo was also awarded honorary PhD degree in law.
PU Vice-Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmad, Pro-VC Prof Dr Muhammad Saleem Mazhar, Registrar Dr Muhammad Khalid Khan, Controller of Examinations Rauf Nawaz, deans, faculty members and a large number of graduates and their parents attended the ceremony.
Addressing the ceremony, Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar said no nation had made more sacrifices than Pakistani nation in war on terror. He said all the super powers of the world had failed in Afghanistan but Pakistan had overpowered terrorism in the country. He said Modi’s Indian Citizenship Act had turned the whole India into Kashmir in which minorities were being deprived of their rights. He said no human rights believer could accept Indian Citizenship Act. He said India had imposed curfew in Occupied Kashmir since 140 days and changed its status in violation of resolutions of the United Nations.
The governor said India was also denying access to international observers to the occupied valley. He said on the contrary, Pakistan had provided all the rights to minorities as per the vision of Quaid-e-Azam. He said “We are thankful to Mr Massimo for supporting Kashmiri people and condemning Indian Citizenship Act.”
He said the government had abolished the culture of ad hoc appointments from universities and 20 vice chancellors had been appointed on merit for making institutions of higher learning fully functional. He said the incumbent government never allowed political interference in the universities.
He said he was happy that three disciplines of PU had been ranked among 250 to 300 top academic institutions of the world and PU’s QS, Times Higher Education and Nature group rankings had improved manifold and PU VC Prof Niaz Ahmad deserved due praise in this regard.
The governor, who is also chancellor of the Punjab University, said it was also a historic achievement that PU had produced 243 PhDs in one year.
He said the Punjab government was trying to bring universities in Punjab among top 500 institutions of the world and the government would extend maximum support in this regard. He encouraged entrepreneurship culture in universities so that young students could resolve economic issues being faced by society.
He said that Pakistani students were not behind European students in talent. He said, “Prime Minister Imran Khan and his team understands that young people are our prime assets.” He congratulated the graduating students, their parents and teachers and urged them to come forward for development of the country.
Addressing the ceremony, Mr Massimo condemned human rights violations in Occupied Kashmir and India due to Citizenship Act. He said, “We should stand with the people of Kashmir and Palestine who were facing atrocities.” He said future of the world was associated with education.
He said education could prevent wars and produce tolerant people. He also paid tribute to Allama Iqbal and Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and cited their sayings. He urged the youngsters not to allow any person to say that they were too young to achieve a goal as he himself was elected as the youngest vice president of European Parliament.
He thanked the PU administration for awarding honourary PhD to him and said that he would always remember the love of Pakistani people. PU VC Prof Niaz Ahmad said that PU administration had implemented policy of merit, transparency and accountability in all the operations of the university. He said the administration had activated all statutory bodies and their meetings were being held regularly to run PU affairs in a transparent manner. He said that production of 243 PhDs in one year was a silent revolution.
He said that the university also exclusively established Baba Guru Nanak and Human Rights chairs. He said minority quota in jobs was strictly being implemented in PU. He said that PU administration was also making efforts to establish a state-of-the-art medical college.
Later, Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar presented honourary PhD degree to Mr Massimo and souvenirs to distinguished guests.
In the convocation, besides 243 PhD, 101 MS/MPhil, 63 master’s, 74 undergraduate degrees and 309 medals were distributed among the graduates. As many as 84 medals were distributed among undergraduate students, 98 medals among master’s students and 127 medals were distributed among MPhil/MS students.