Many jobs will disappear in coming years.

NAROWAL  -  Federal Minister for Planning and Development Prof Ahsan Iqbal Chaudhry said on Sunday the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) wanted to empower youth of the country with info-tech skills and it was making all-out efforts in that direction. 

Speaking as the chief guest at the ‘Digital Narowal’ event held at E-Library here, he said now his entire focus was on launch of modern-day projects for the youth of the country. He said recently the first convocation of the University of Narowal was held, which had been delayed for the past four years. He said the PML-N believed in merit only. “It is very easy to talk of merit, but PML-N government is demonstrating through practi­cal steps that it believes in merit and only merit. Laptop scheme for brilliant students is the pro­cess of recognising the talent of our youth,” Ahsan Iqbal said. 

The federal minister said that with the laptops given by the PML-N government, lakhs of students were freelancing from Pakistan and earning handsome amounts of money for their fam­ilies as well as the country. The minister warned that many jobs would disappear in the com­ing years and the world would replace these professions with new and advanced technology due to artificial intelligence and digitalization. 

“Therefore, it is very impor­tant that we prepare our youth to compete in this modern world of information technology,” he added. “If you are educated, but you don’t have IT skills, then you are not ready for new chal­lenges. It is our determination that we want to make Narowal a Silicon Valley. 

“We are going to build a quan­tum computing centre at the University of Engineering and Technology Narowal campus,” Ahsan Iqbal disclosed. He said the projects that were delayed during the previous Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) govern­ment, had resumed today. “We will not give you chicken and eggs but IT skills, so that you can be successful in the 21st centu­ry. In this age of technology, we should use technology; other­wise, we will lag behind others,” the minister said. 

He advised the youth to use the social media sensibly. “To­day, Pakistan needs peace. De­struction will be caused due to propaganda and disinformation, and it will not take the nation to­wards progress,” Minister Ahsan Iqbal said adding “We should not pay attention to the voices calling for hatred. We need to keep our consciousness awake. 

“Development comes from making decisions based on facts in the practical world, instead of mythical ideas,” the minister added. 

He said all projects including the sports complex and hospi­tals, which were neglected and delayed by the PTI government had been re-launched. He said the person who had accused him of misappropriation of funds had reached Attock Jail today due to his own corrupt practices. He said the previous government did not launch even a single project in its four-year rule. Their agenda was spread­ing hatred, but the PML-N agen­da is development of the youth and the country. He said ‘Digital Narowal’ is a foundation which would produce freelancers, who would earn millions of dollars for the country. 

Earlier, Deputy Commissioner Narowal Chaudhry Muhammad Ashraf said that under the ‘Digi­tal Narowal’ initiative, the vision of Prof Ahsan Iqbal Chaudhry would be materialised. He said under the programme, IT train­ing courses of three months and one-year duration would be con­ducted for students of Narowal.