Govt believes in promoting soft image of country: Maryam

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Maryam Aurangzeb Friday said that her government believed in promoting soft image of the country, saying “there is no better option to achieve that goal than to promote sports, culture and national heritage”.

Speaking to Rawalpindi-Islamabad Sports Journalists Association (Risja) delegation headed by its newly-elected president Afzal Javed, the minister said that according to Mian Nawaz Sharif’s vision every effort would be made to invest in sports and all those activities that could bring good name to the country.

“Since we took over, our effort has always been to promote a culture of healthy activities. This includes investment in sports, culture and national heritage.”Maryam added that with the help and coordination of the government, armed forces and security agencies, the country was now safe to hold international events.

“We have fought and won battle against terrorism with the help and coordination of all the stakeholders. Now we are in a position to organise international sports and cultural events.”The minister said sports was the best medium to promote country’s image abroad.

“The PML-N governments in Punjab and the Centre are making all-out efforts to broaden sports infrastructure and organise national and international events with the help of sports federations.”

She also lauded print and electronic media for promoting sports culture and helping the youth get the required exposure.“Our youth is keen follower of sports and it is our duty to give them required platform to show their sporting talent. Indeed media is doing a lot to encourage the youth in the field of sports.”

The government has already decided to include sports in the syllabus of Information Service Academy.“There is a need to organise workshops for sports journalists and with the help of Risja we are planning to do that in near future.”

Maryam promised all possible steps to promote sports journalism cause in the country and suggested that Risja should come up with viable proposals in this regard. “We are taking sports journalism very seriously as we believe that goal of sports’ promotion cannot be achieved without the active participation of the journalists.”

On the occasion, Abdul Mohi Shah, Shaharyar Khan, Nasir Raja, Zulfikar Baig, Nasir Naqvi, Yasir Awan, Zahid Farooq Malik and Neelum shared suggestions with the minister for the development of sports journalism in the country.