ISLAMABAD - The first round of 16th All Pakistan Inter-University Debate Contest for Award of Allama Iqbal Shield was held at the National University of Modern Languages (Numl) on Wednesday.
The contestants of debates skilfully employed their verbal and non-verbal communicative skills and techniques to overweigh others. Careful selection of words, dramatic rise and fall of voice, native like accents, precise and accurate narrations, realistic themes, exuberant deliverance, thought-provoking contents and clarity of thoughts and minds were some of techniques used to stand out the competition.
Talking to scribe, Jameel Asghar Jami, one of the judges, said, "The students participated with excitement and passion. Their performance was really amazing and the topic they discussed showed their well-informed nature about the crucial social and political questions. Such contest can go a long way in the personality development of the students. This is how we get a ray of hope".
A total of 12 student participants from different departments of the university participated in the two separate tracks of debates in English and Urdu and presented their views with masterly acumen. The rules of the contest require the speech must be completely memorized, no notes allowed, no use of unparliamentary language, must be between three to four minutes in length. Urooj Qaisar Abbasi of BS English secured the first position and Rs 2500 cash prize, Mirza Atta-ur-Rauf from Spanish Department secured 2nd position and Rs 1500 cash prize while Fayyaz Khan from Arabic Department secured 3rd position and Rs 1000 cash prize in the category of English Debate contest.