LAHORE - Punjab Minister for Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Social Welfare Raja Basharat has said that the Punjab government is taking all possible steps to meet the requirements and goals of Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

He said this while talking to British High Commission’s Political Consul Miss Luna Thomas who called on him at Civil Secretariat on Friday.

The minister apprised the British diplomat of the measures taken by the Punjab government to implement the plan of action given by the PATF. 

Raja Basharat also told her that Punjab Assembly was making effective legislation for the improvement of social sector while the new local government system of Punjab would play an important role in transferring powers to the grass roots level. He said that the democratic countries should take notice of the worst oppression in Indian occupied Kashmir. Mr Luna Thomas said the United Kingdom wanted a cordial relationship with Pakistan at all levels and wanted to work with the Punjab government to enhance the capacity of the departments for well being of the common people.

British High Commission launches Great Debate

The British High Commission launched the fifth edition of its Great Debate competition with a regional round at the Government College University (GC University) on Thursday.

The competition featured 20 students from eight different universities including Punjab University, GC University Lahore, UET Lahore, FC College and LUMS. At the end of an intense competition, Mustafa Shaukat from LUMS was the winner and Muhammad Ali from Punjab University was the runner-up.

The Great Debate competition is taking place from December 2019 to March 2020 in six cities across Pakistan.

Fouzia Younis, Director of Communication at the British High Commission said: “Over the past five years, we have engaged over one thousand debaters and partnered with leading universities in 12 cities across Pakistan.  The competition gives us an opportunity to celebrate our shared tradition of lively, reasoned debate as well as give students a platform to express their views and opinions about topics that matter to both Pakistan and the UK. So it’s only right that this year’s debate theme is focused on the global impact of climate change, especially as the UK prepares to host a major UN summit on this important agenda in November 2020.”

Dr Asghar Zaidi, Vice Chancellor of GCU, said: “The Great Debate is an excellent initiative which provides the students with a wonderful opportunity to engage with various ideas pertaining to the socio-economic issues of Pakistan. GC University Lahore takes pride in hosting this year’s regional round. We are excited to join hands for this initiative and collaborate in order to develop a healthy culture of discourse, and to improve the quality of higher education in the country.”

The Great Debate is a debating competition for university students. There will be six events – in six different cities (Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta and Faisalabad) involving students from leading universities across Pakistan – and the winner and runner-up of each round will compete in the final in Islamabad.

The winner and runner-up of the overall competition will receive a scholarship reward to contribute towards their tuition fees.