Students gather to attend ‘I am Karachi dialogue’

KARACHI: IAMKARACHI (IAK) and the Pakistan American Cultural Centre (PACC) on Friday joined hands to invite students from various educational institutes to IAK Dialogues at the PACC auditorium to further understand the importance of cultural centres in a financial metropolis, Karachi.

This Dialogue was the third in an increasingly popular series and was received with great enthusiasm by the youthful crowd. The IAK Dialogues is intended to increase communication amongst the youth and to allow them to debate and reason. 

This event was moderated by one of the countries’ premier thinkers and political analysts, Ghazi Salahuddin. His esteemed panel included some of the finest individuals that have graced this country, namely Arshad Nadeem, executive director of the Host Institute PACC with over thirty years of experience in his field, Sadaf Mehmood, heritage activist, a partner at SEED (Social, Entrepreneurship & Equity Development) and also an executive member of the IAK Board and Farah Shaikh, a leading architect who has recently returned to Pakistan to pursue her work here after enjoying immense success in the Netherlands.

After two open ended topics in the first two Dialogues, the IAK think tank proceeded to up the ante with a topic that has a specific reference to the host institute; Cultural Centres : The Struggle. The discussion revolved around what the purpose of cultural centres is, their importance to the social infrastructure of a city like Karachi, and what they contribute to the cultural fabric and the citizens among other things. 

The PACC became the latest in a line of educational institutes to partner with IAK, with the aim of bringing about an event that was riddled with successes, from the arrangement to the attendance. The PACC helped IAK deliver on its promise of providing the ideal environment for a civilised discussion on conflicting opinions.

The students in attendance scrutinised the dialogue with care and rounded off proceedings with insightful questions that were representative of diverse opinions and the acquisition of knowledge.