Punjab University holds colours of peace festival

LAHORE: A festival on ‘Aman ka Nishaan - Hmara Pakistan (Peace Symbol-our Pakistan): Rung de CEES’, under College of Earth and Environmental Sciences (CEES), Punjab University in coordination with Centre for Health and Gender Equality (CHANGE) was observed at PU.

According a press release issued here on Wednesday, Dr Tahir Javed, former Punjab Health minister Punjab, Prof Dr Niaz Ahmed Akhtar, Vice Chancellor Mian Habib, Prof Dr Arshad Kamal, Salman Abid, senior peace expert Azam Malik, cultural expert Muhammad Pervaiz, Director Programme CHANGE and Prof Dr Sajid Rashid Ahmad, principal CEES participated in the festival.

The festival was full of fun as the students decorated the college with the colours of peace and arranged stalls related to foods, culture, art, environment and sports. They were all dressed up in cultural costumes representing different parts of the country including Sindh, Punjab, Baluchistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kashmir, and Gilgit Baltistan promoting diversity and harmony. Students performed different skits, poetry, speeches and cultural plays around peace.

Prof Dr Sajid Rashid Ahmad welcomed the participants and guests. He encouraged the students by appreciating their efforts in arranging the festival successfully. He added: “We are playing our part for clean and green Pakistan by planting 1,000 plants of different fruit for peaceful Pakistan.”

The ceremony was inaugurated by Dr Tahir Javed. He said: “Today the true spirit of national unity is portrayed by the students.”

Mian Habib appreciated the efforts of the students in bringing about the colorful event. Cultural music was also played by the renowned singer Imran Shaukat Ali, son of Shaukat Ali. Through his performance of various patriotic and cultural songs, he spreads the message of unity.

result: Punjab University has declared results of MBA part-II and part-III annual examinations 2018. Detailed result is available on PU website.

date sheet: Punjab University has issued date sheets of BA/BSc composite part-I, part-II and for hearing impaired students.

B.A/B.Sc part-II and composite examinations will commence from April 05 while part-I examinations will commence from April 19. Further details are available on PU website.

Mehfil-e-Qirat: Punjab University’s Faculty of Islamic Studies on Wednesday organised Mehfil-e-Husn-e-Qirat.

Vice-Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmad, Faculty of Islamic Studies Dean Prof Dr Muhammad Hammad Lakhvi, senior faculty members, participants from Egypt and various parts of country and students were present.

Prof Niaz appreciated the organisers for organising Mehfil-e-Husn-e-Qirat and encouraged them to continue providing such platforms.

misperceptions: There is a great need to increase interaction among different identities, in particular the ethnic and religious ones. Such exchanges can shed their misperceptions among each other, enable them to empathise, and provide fertile group for coexistence – which is direly needed in the face of changing socio-economic dynamics, not least in the shape of increasing population influx to big cities.

These thoughts came in a day-long discussion held in Lahore Wednesday on “Coexistence with Multiple Identities”, organised by Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS), with experts, academics, lawyers, and social scientists, in Lahore.

The session was moderated by PIPS director Muhammad Amir Rana, and Qazi Javed, scholar on identity issues, delivered keynote address.

Participants noted, “As person’s identity, whether religious, national, or ethnic, helps in associating that person with the larger group. A person’s identity, which includes his fears and interests, often derive from his group identity.” It is not only how he defines about himself, but how others do about him, they noted.

In case of Punjab there is a tendency among youth of identifying oneself along religious line. So much so that, noted one participant, a discussion on Pakistani literature recently found it overwhelming be of religious in character. In recent time, there is a strong tinge of sectarianism in that religious identity, noted some. In far-flung areas, on the other hand, ethnicity too takes precedence. Similarly, caste in itself dominates the group with which people tend to associate.

Pakistan is a diverse country, and the best way to coexist is accept them all. The root of resolving conflict in such societies is to accept that each person has multiple identities, noted Qazi. It is the resort to singular identity that others are excluded and conflict generated. It was precisely to accept that diversity that the 18th amendment was passed, which devolved powers to the provinces.