LAHORE - First time in the history of Punjab University the Directorate of Students Affairs (STC) is organizing All Pakistan Parliamentary Debating Championship 2016.
In this connection the inaugural ceremony was held at Institute of Education and Research’s Waheed Shaheed Hall here on Friday. PU VC Dr Mujahid Kamran, Director Students Affairs Shahid Mehmood Gul, Deputy Director Zubair Akram, Chairman Hall Council Dr Abid Hussain Chaudhary and a large number of students were present on the occasion.
In his address Dr Mujahid Kamran said that Pakistani youth are full of talent and PU students have defeated students of the most advanced countries in such competitions.
The VC said that this would be a good platform for the students to show their abilities. Almost 50 teams from all over the Pakistan are participating in the event. The final round will be held at Al-Raazi Hall on March 7, 2016.
Meanwhile, Punjab University Institute of Business Administration’s team comprising 5 students under the supervision of Ms Tahira Nisar, Lecturer IBA has participated in “SATHA BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION 2016” of 5th Invention to Innovation Summit 2016 and won 3rd position and got Rs 15, 000 as cash prize in the competition. The event was organized by PU Office of Research Innovation and Commercialization (ORIC).
Call for tolerance: German professor Dr. Bettina Robotka has said that many socio-economic problems have erupted in German because of a huge influx of refugees and there is need to promote tolerance in German society.
She said that academia and media must play its role in changing the mindset of the Germans towards migrants. She was addressing a seminar organized by Punjab University’s Pakistan Study Centre on refugee situation in Berlin and Europe.
Prof Dr Robotka, Department of South Asia Studies, Faculty of Humanities, Institute of Asian and African Studies, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany was the keynote speaker.
In her keynote speech, Dr Bettina highlighted the various aspects of refugees arrival in Germany and said Germany was not only hosting refugees from Middle East but also from Afghanistan and Iraq while German population was decreasing.
She said Germany needed young work force to run its industries. She said socio-cultural differences are the major irritants in the settlement of refugees. She said a significant portion of the population is supporting the migrants. She said there was a need to promote culture of tolerance in the German society.
In her address, Prof. Dr. Massarrat Abid, Director of Pakistan Study Centre welcomed the guests and gave a brief overview of the topic. She said Pakistan had also experienced such problem on the eve of partition of subcontinent. She said that Pakistan had been hosting millions of refugees from neighbouring Afghanistan after the Russian invasion.
She said the refugees have created law and order situation and it has become one of the reasons of extremism in Pakistan. She said that Pakistan also faced several economic problems due to influx of refugees and that’s why Pakistan could understand the problems being faced by Germany who is facing the same problem.
She said Germany had played humanitarian role by inviting the refugees from middle-east. Faculty members, researchers and PhD scholars of the Centre participated in the event and enthusiastically participated in the question-answer session.