Rawalpindi - The 3rd Potohar Art and Literature festival commenced at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR) here on Wednesday.
Different competitions, including qirat, naat, book fair, posters, painting, musharia, essays, photography, debates, Punjabi takra, sufiana kalam, E-gaming, documentaries, bait bazi, cultural presentation, solo performance, drama and boys and girls sports will be held during three-day long festival.
The Ambassador of the Netherlands, Jeannette Seppen was the chief guest on the first day of the festival while PMAS-AAUR Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Rai Niaz Ahmad was the guest of honour.
The Ambassador of Netherlands along with VC inaugurated the book fair and inspected sections of the exhibition and collection of displayed books.
While visiting different book stalls the Ambassador said that such fairs have great significance and stressed to promote the book reading habit. The ambassador also visited the painting competition and appreciated the work of students.
Prof Dr Rai Niaz Ahmad said that such healthy and positive activities are essential for curbing the trends of extremism in the society and university’s top priority is to provide maximum extra-curricular activities to the students.
While addressing on the qirat and naat competition, He said, “The life of our Holy Prophet (PBUH) is a role model for humanity. We should forget our differences and unite together for a problem-free society.” He also lauded the students for their excellent demonstration, keen interest and appreciated the efforts of PMAS-AAUR administration for organising such a colourful festival.
Similarly, a large number of university students from Punjab and Sindh came together to highlight gender insensitive tax laws and their adverse affect on women economic, social and political life through films at the second ‘National Tax Justice Youth Film Festival’ during the festival.
Focused on creating awareness on fiscal justice in Pakistan, the film festival under its theme ‘Fair Tax Campaign’ provided a unique platform and opportunity for the youth of Pakistan to showcase their talent through short films and documentaries.
A total of 38 entries by students from 28 public and private universities of Pakistan submitted their entries in the National Youth Film festival under the theme of ‘Gender and tax nexus’.
During his remarks Mohammed Qazilbash, Country Director Oxfam in Pakistan said, “Pro-poor tax laws and legislation along with a fair tax system can only lead to better Pakistan. It is the duty of every citizen of Pakistan to pay their fair share of tax, as it is the duty of the Government of Pakistan to make sure that the tax rupees collected is spent in a way that benefits the poor.”
Ambassador Jeannette Seppen appreciated the event and said that she was very impressed to see so many talented students engaged in the subject of taxes through film. “Nobody likes to pay taxes, however, taxes are a key source of income for any democratic government to finance sustainable development and economic growth for all,” she said.
Qirat, naat, tug of war (boys), 100 meters race, Islamic quiz and drama competitions were held while three-day book fair started on the first day of the festival.
At the Qirat Competition, Talha Mushtaq student faculty of animal sciences bagged the first position, whereas M Ishtiaq student of education got second and Sana Riaz student of agriculture faculty stood third.
At Naat Competition, Hafiz Shoaib student of animal sciences faculty clinched first position, Ihtisham Zafar student of agricultural engineer stood second and Maryam Zahidi student of sciences faculty got the third position.
Islamic Quiz Competition Javeria Kanwal student of management sciences, SUAMA Iqbal student of information technology and Usama Shoukat student of agriculture faculty got first, second and third positions, respctively.
In drama competition Hafiz Umair group stood first while Muhammad Zahid and Sudra Suleman groups obtained second and third positions, respectively.
In tug of war competition, agricultural engineering faculty team defeated sciences faculty team and got first position.