PU alumni vow to work for national development

LAHORE : The first ever grand meeting of former graduates of Punjab University was organised at Faisal Auditorium of the university on Saturday.

The alumni during the meeting pledged to contribute to development of the country and play their role in coping with the issues being faced by the nation. A large number of people, including politicians, judges, journalists, industrialists, bureaucrats, academicians and scientists, participated in the event. Former PU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Rafiq Ahmad chaired the ceremony. Dr Mariam Zahoor, who did her MA in Geography from PU in 1948, Allama Iqbal’s daughter in law Justice (r) Nasira Javed Iqbal, Lahore High Court’s Justice Ali Akbar Qureshi, PU VC Prof Dr Niaz Ahmad, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Riaz Fatiana, Fareed Ahmad Pracha, Gulam Abbas, Dr Mehdi Hassan, Hafeez Khan, Raghib Naeemi, Mujeebur Rehman Shami, Hafeez Ullah Niazi, Salman Ghani, Sajjad Mir, Dr Mujahid Ali Mansoori, Hamid Mir, Touqir Nasir, Asghar Nadeem Syed, Amjad Islam Amjad, Dr Najma Najam, Qazi Afaq, Anwar Rasheed, Dr Shahzad, Rasheed Loon, Shahid Salim Baig, Ishtiaq Ahmad Khan, Dr Mahboob Hussain, G.A. Sabri and many other prominent personalities participated in the ceremony.

Qamar Zaman Kaira said that Pakistani nation was facing several political, economical and social challenges. However, he said, those nations who lacked wisdom and appropriate ideological and intellectual guidance faced debacle. He said, “Confusion over national issues is deepening in our society too. The universities must provide guidance to our nation and we need to progress intellectually.”

He said that student unions had provided leadership to the country and now there was a need to practically restore student unions for providing political leadership to the country.

PU VC Prof Niaz Ahmed said that the university had produced big names and Allama Muhammad Iqbal, presidents, prime ministers, chief justices of Pakistan, judges of high courts, chief ministers, bureaucrats, industrialists, journalists and a large number of other shining personalities in all fields of life. He said that PU administration had taken several initiatives to bring PU among top the ranked universities of the world by burning the midnight oil.

He said that the university was establishing Institute of Policy Studies in order to provide guidelines in all fields for national development. He said that PU would also establish medical college and hospital. He said, “Pakistan’s future is bright and we must come forward to play our role in Pakistan’s development.” He said that the next meeting of PU Alumni Association would be held in March 2019.

MNA Riaz Fatiana said that the university taught him the art of politics. He said that when he was education minister, he served any person belonging to Punjab University whole heartedly. Farid Ahmad Paracha said that PU was known for Islam and Pakistan and it must prosper. He said, “We all should work for the progress of our beloved homeland.” Hamid Mir said that he felt that his childhood was back again as he had done his first speech in class one at Faisal Auditorium being student of PU Laboratory High School. He said PU had the most beautiful campus as compared to top universities in the world.

He said that PU alumni were spread all over the world and he had seen “Long Live Pakistan” slogan in Palestine. He said that the political tolerance that was being witnessed at Faisal Auditorium must reflect outside of the hall too and all political leaders should sit together for the development of the country. He said that PU alumni were a precious treasurer and Prof Niaz Ahmad was contributing to utilise this asset for national development.

Ghulam Abbas stressed the need to launch comparative studies programme for better understanding of the issues. He said, “We should discourage stereotype thinking.”

Dr Rafiq Ahmad said that conspiracies were being hatched against China Pakistan Economic Corridor, and PU Alumni Association must make efforts to counter the propaganda. He said, “There was abundance of national resources in Pakistan and we must develop capacity to utilise these resources.” He said that Old Campus was named Allama Iqbal Campus and New Campus was named Quaid-e-Azam Campus when he took charge as PU VC in 1984.

Justice Ali Akbar Qureshi said that it was an honour for him to participate in the meeting of alumni and he would anxiously wait for its next meeting to come here again.

Justice (r) Nasira Javed Iqbal said, “We are independent because of the teachings of Hazrat Muhammad (SAW).” He said women were coming forward in all fields of life and they should work for the country’s development. Dr Mariam Zahoor said that she did MA in Geography with distinctive marks in 1948 and she was the first female PhD of the country. She said that the universities must remain autonomous and teachers must be respected.

Hafeez Khan said that it was the first event of its kind in the 136 years history of the university. He said that PU Alumni Association would work to improve the ranking of the university. Tauqeen Nasir also shared his campus life and praised the environment of the campus. In the ceremony, a certificate amounting Rs 1.9 million was presented to PU VC Prof Niaz Ahmad. The original value of the certificate was 92,000 in the 80s when Muhammad Mahmood Mirza, former graduate of PU, invested in defense savings scheme for PU Alumni Association and as per his will, his son and renowned banker Hamid Mahmood Mirza presented the certificate to the VC.