SIALKOT
Sialkot Press Club and Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry jointly organised a seminar on “Peace: A Need not a Desire” at SCCI Auditorium here on Saturday.
Commissioner Gujranwala Division Khawaja Shamail Ahmed presided over the seminar while MPAs Manshaullah Butt, Muhammad Ikram , Tariq Akhtar Subhani, Ameer Jamiat Ahle Hadith Pakistan Prof Sajid Mir, Sialkot DCO Iftikhar Ali Sahu, Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry president and SVP Mian Muhammad Anwar were also present.
The speakers urged people to play a key role in promoting public awareness of terrorism to establish peace and promote religious harmony. They declared peace need of the hour and said the nation would protect the Motherland at all costs and is read to sacrifice even last drop of blood for this purpose.
The speakers urged the media to play its role in curbing the menace and anti-Islam conspiracies. The participants were told that the Pakistan always played frontline role for establishing peace globally, besides, battling war against terrorism in the country. They added that Pakistan itself was the victim of the terrorism and had sacrificed a lot for peace.
“The Pakistani nation would never forget these great sacrifices made to establish peace as it stands united against terrorism,” said the commissioner. He narrated that early establishment of durable peace and weeding out of terrorism and militancy was the top priority of the government and it was committed to uproot terrorism from the country.
The government has made the country’s ideological and geographical boundaries very solid and strong and none could damage these boundaries, he said. The defence of Pakistan was now in very strong hands and the PML-N government had made the national defence as hard to beat, he added.
He said that the government was fully aware of the eternal and external dangers and was making hectic efforts to cope with them, as it was committed to weed out terrorism from the country in active cooperation of the masses.
He urged the media to play its role in national development and in promoting positive public opinions and for the socio-economic and human development in the country. He said that a tradition of promotion of criticism for construction could boost democracy while criticism for criticism would weaken the institutions in the country.
He revealed that the newsmen should criticise the government with positive sense, besides, highlighting the government’s good initiatives in the larger national interest. He narrated that the government was fully aware of the problems being faced by the newsmen besides ensuring the freedom of expression.
MPA Manshaullah said that there were strong relations between the media and the government and it was enjoying complete freedom and doing accountability in all walks of life. MPA Ikram said that the role of journalism should be like that rain which occurs equally on flowers and thorns. He narrated that the government had focused the capacity building of journalists and was making some effective and solid measures for solving their problems.
Prof Sajid Mir urged the media to present a soft image of Pakistan globally. He said that journalists were the eyes and the ears of the society, which play a key role in smoothing the public opinions in the society, and establish solid relations between the people and the government.
SCCI President Dr Sarfraz Bashir and MPA Subhani said that the government was making some effective and positive measures to provide the security of life to the journalists and to protect their rights.