LAHORE – TheNation Editor-in-Chief and Nazaria-i-Pakistan Trust (NPT) Chairman Majid Nizami said on Saturday that teachers should focus on making the new generation true Pakistanis instead of Balochs, Sindhis, Punjabis or Pakhtuns.
He expressed these views while addressing the visiting students from Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at the Aiwan-i-Karkunan Tehreek-i-Pakistan. A large number of teachers, ideological summer school students and people from all walks of life attended the ceremony.
Showing aversion to the six points floated by Talal Bugti, Nizami asked Nawaz Sharif to diffuse the confusion regarding the Balochistan issue. He also recalled his visit to Balochistan and his meeting with Nawab of Kalat, who he said demanded a hotel in lieu of the state he donated to Pakistan. “We could give nothing to the Nawab,” Nizami regretted.
Recalling his past as a scout, Nizami said he refused to take oath on loyalty to the British Queen. “That practice helped me develop the spirit of defying the dictators in the country,’ he maintained.
Punjab Education Minister Mian Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman said education had remained top priority of the provincial government, which had taken new initiatives in this field during the past four-and-a-half years. He said promotion of education was of paramount importance for the elimination of ignorance and poverty.
“The steps being taken by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for the promotion of education are unprecedented. By giving guard of honour to position-holder students of the province, he gave them due respect” Shuja maintained. He said the youth, especially talented students, were an asset of the nation.
The education minister said the Punjab Government had provided a sum of Rs10 billion to promote school education among the marginalised strata and 1.5 million deserving students in 36 districts of the province would benefit from this.
“A sum of Rs46 billion will be spent on the school education sector to elevate it according to international standards,” said Shuja, adding that more than three million children have been admitted in schools under the primary enrolment campaign launched by the Punjab Govt.
He said the government was also awarding scholarships to thousands of talented students for studying in the country and abroad. “More than 2.5 million students are getting computer education every year in the province under the IT promotion programme of the Punjab chief minister.”
Shuja further said on the directive of the Punjab chief minister, position-holder students in Matric and Intermediate examinations were given prizes worth millions of rupees and sent on a three-day recreational and study tour of Murree.
“Talented students are being given laptops while the male and female students obtaining first position in their boards are being sent abroad to visit prestigious universities of the world. Under the Punjab Educational Endowment Fund, whose amount has been increased up to Rs10 billion, talented students are being given scholarships for higher education in the universities of the country as well as abroad,” he said.
NPT Vice Chairperson Dr Rafique Ahmad called the seminar a national event since representative students from across the country were participating in it. He said Pakistan was rich country full of resources. “We should make the country an Islamic, modern and democratic one,” he maintained.
Some of the visiting students also spoke on the occasion and lauded the steps being taken by the NPT and its Chairman Majid Nizami for the new generation. The students said they were Pakistanis and not Sindhis, Punjabis or Balochs. They also vowed to inculcate NPT teachings in their lives. Later, the education minister hosted lunch in honour of the visiting students at his residence.