Indian brutalities in IHK: Call to mobilise diplomatic channels

LAHORE :Punjab University Centre for South Asian Studies (CSAS) organised a seminar titled “Kashmir Today, Options for India and Pakistan” in its auditorium here on Thursday.

According to a press release, Brig (r) Imran Malik in his keynote address stated that the geo-political and geo-strategic dynamics in the Asia particularly South Asian region had become very precious because of China-US competition for global influence.

America wants the Kashmir issue to be resolved so that India might focus wholeheartedly on countering the rising Chinese influence as well as Pakistan’s influence in the region could be countered. He said in such a scenario, Pakistan needed to revamp its strategy at regional and global level. He said economic domain in this respect needed to be focused while diplomatic channels and the media must be mobilised to expose Indian brutalities in the occupied Kashmir.

The centre’s director, Prof Dr Umbreen Javaid, faculty members and M Phil/PhD scholars of the centre participated in the seminar.

Foundation stone: Federal Minister for Information Technology (IT) & Telecom Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddique laid the foundation stone of Pakistan’s first ever Centre for Genomics and Proteomics at Virtual University’s Kala Shah Kaku (KSK) Campus on Thursday. In his speech, the federal minister said the ceremony was far more than just the literal foundation stone ceremony; in fact, it was equivalent to laying the foundation of research on a national scale from the platform of Virtual University of Pakistan.

He said the Research and Development sector within industries and academia in Pakistan was very weak. Strengthening of this sector could contribute to the development of skilled labour, better products and a contribution in the economy.

Within life sciences, techniques had been advanced to the stage where genes were the key factors in treatment of diseases, specialised medicine, and healthcare. Therefore, it was the need of the hour to channelise our resources towards research in this segment, he added.

Later, Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui inaugurated the “Memorial Garden for APS Shuhda” in the light of Prime Minister Clean Green Pakistan initiative. A total of 250 saplings were planted, including 147 saplings for each APS Shaheed. The daughter of the Principal of APS was the guest of honour. She planted a sapling in her late mother’s name who was martyred in the APS incident. Earlier, the federal minister was received by the VU Rector Naeem Tariq along with Ehsen Zafar Puri, Director ICT, VU, Dean Faculty of Science and Technology Prof Dr Masroor Elahi Babar and others.