Students benefit from social action projects

LAHORE :More than 2,100 students from 12 universities of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including the universities from Bannu, Karak, Lakki Marwat, Swat, Malakand, DI Khan, Sargodha, Gujranwala, Lahore, directly benefited from 60 youth-led social action projects developed by 67 youth leaders and office-bearers of student societies working in the universities.

It was a part of an initiative, entitled, “Youth Leadership on Campuses” executed by a youth development organisation Bargad.

A two-day Student Leaders’ Conference was organised by Bargad in collaboration with Punjab Youth Affairs Department in the auditorium of University of Home Economics Lahore (UHEL).

The first day of the conference was dedicated to commemorate the International Volunteers Day. On the second day, selected leaders showcased their social action projects.

More than 800 students participated in the proceedings of the conference, including youth leaders from KP and Punjab. Dr Kanwal Amin, VC of UHEL, Adnan Arshad Aulaukh, DG, Punjab Youth and Sports Affairs, Senator Waleed Iqbal, officials of the KP Youth Affairs Department were also present.

Adnan Arshad Aulaukh announced that the Punjab government was soon introducing the Punjab Sports Policy. A panel discussion on volunteerism was organised on the first day, while on the second day the youth leaders mainly from KP presented their best social actions during the panel discussions.

Natasha Faisal from Kinnaird College moderated the panel discussions while Noor Imran, Usman Yunus and Minahil Aslam facilitated the conference.

Awards for best volunteers were given to Umer Doabiya from GCU, Tehreem Hasham from LCWU and Hussain Hashmi from UOE.

Bilal Khattak and music society members of University of Education took part in musical programmes. Senator Waleed Iqbal distributed certificates among the conference volunteers. He spoke about five key characteristics of leadership in the light of teachings of Allama Muhammad Iqbal.

APP adds: The Provincial Human Rights Department in collaboration with a non-governmental organization (NGO) here Saturday organised a session on district human rights committees’ role in institutionalisation of human rights.

HR&MA Secretary Tariq Mahmood presented a briefing in which he described the implementation of an action plan through the district committees. He said that the HR&MA Department was the principal department for implementation of the action plan at provincial level. He said that the Punjab government had already approved the constitution of district committees on human rights in all districts of Punjab under the chairmanship of deputy commissioners.

Provincial Minister Ijaz Alam Augustine said that the district committees were responsible for prompt implementation of the action plan in their respective districts and they should serve as a unitary force of the Provincial Task Force on Human Rights.

He said that in order to monitor the overall human rights situation in the province, terms of reference (ToRs) werre much clear to monitor and implement the action plan on human rights in Punjab. He said the human rights policy having a comprehensive action plan including roles and responsibilities of provincial departments concerned. Barrister Saeed Nasir also spoke.

District officers of human rights thanked the administration of the Human Rights Department for organising such an important event and assured their proactive role in safeguarding human rights. Certificates were also distributed among district officers by the provincial minister.