Muhammad Nauman Awan
IMAGINE the voice of country’s youth that makes 63 percent of Pakistan’ total population. Yes, it really makes sense that the voice will be strong.
Its Youth that owns this much presence, importance and voice. A recent activity has made me over joy-ous to learn from the energetic youth representatives at the Islamic Research Institute of International Islamic University, Islamabad.
Voice of these young men and women had a gesture that they have recognize their importance and they really mean it.
It was the 2nd Paigham e Pakistan Youth Symposium of IRI where recommendations of the representatives youth leaders hailing from the universities all across the country showcased that the time of light and positivity has reached.
In the Youth Symposium that concluded at the Faisal Mas-jid Campus young minds recommended that these are high times to promote peace, tolerance, inclu-siveness and interfaith harmony in the society.
The students from various universities from Sindh, Punjab, Baluchitsan, GB and KPK opined that cur-riculum changes as per needs of the contemporary requirement are necessary and such alteration in the curriculum must possess the topics of interfaith harmony.
They agreed that mental health awareness for youth must be given due importance as well as culture of dialogue, discussion and critical thinking must be promote in country’s education sector.
Ahsan Iqbal, former Federal Minister and Member National Assembly’s interaction with the students was another opportunity for participating youth to broaden their exposure in an encouraging environ-ment.
In his address, Ahsan Iqbal highlighted vari-ous challenges that are faced by Pakistani society. He was of the view that raising hatred in society must be addressed, while harmony must be pro-moted to build a peaceful society.
Professor Dr. Masoom Yasinzai, Rector IIUI has always been witnessed as fond of addressing youth and loves to be gelled as he maintained that the Youth is real agent of change. in his address to symposium he said these are high times to promote peace, inclusiveness and harmony in the society and Pakistani youth through latest mediums such as social media can do wonders to achieve these goals. He opined that there is a dire need to promote and propagate the message of peace and unity.
Prof. Dr. Masoor Akbar Kundi, Vice Chancellor BZ University, Multan also spoke to the symposium. He said we must say no to Differences and yes to unity. He urged the youth to disseminate the Paigham-e-Pakistan’s message that he opined is all about Inclusiveness, peaceful co-existence and unity.
He was of the view that rights of minorities must be protected. Various parliamentarians, ex-perts and faculty members such as Prof. Dr. Abdul Qadus Suhaib Chairman department of Islamic Studies Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, MrKhurshid Ahmed Nadeem, Dr. Muhammad Khan, Dr. Rizwan and Prof. Dr. Muhammad Zia UlHaq DG, IRI were resource persons of the sym-posium.
Prof. Dr. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Director General, IRI was the chief organizer of this symposium.
He has been a symbol of dedication since inception of the Paigham e Pakistan as he is the one who had been supervising the activities of this narrative in hundreds in the form of trainings, dialogues, out-reach programs, conferences, seminars and visits.