Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar was addressing the 129th Convocation of Punjab University and said that the West should learn from Pakistan how to fight terrorism as it has defeated terrorists with the valor and unprecedented sacrifices of Pakistan Army, law enforcement agencies and Pakistani nation.
European Union Parliament’s Vice President Fabio Massimo Castaldo, whom PU awarded honorary PhD degree in the subject of Law during convocation, PU Vice Chancellor Professor Niaz Ahmad, Pro VC Professor Dr Muhammad Saleem Mazhar, Registrar Dr Muhammad Khalid Khan, Controller of Examinations Rauf Nawaz, Additional Controller of Examinations Raja Shahid Javed, deans, faculty members and a large number of outshining graduates and their parents participated in the event.
Addressing the ceremony, Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar said that no nation had made more sacrifices than Pakistani nation in war on terror. He said that all the super powers of the world had failed in Afghanistan but Pakistan had overpowered terrorism in country. Sarwar said that Modi’s Indian Citizenship Act had turned the whole India into Kashmir in which minorities were being deprived of their rights and no human rights believer could accept this act. Governor said that India had imposed curfew in Occupied Kashmir since 140 days and changed its status in violation of resolutions of the United Nations. He added that India was also denying access to international observers to the occupied valley. He said that on the contrary, Pakistan had provided all the rights to minorities as per the vision of Quaid-e-Azam.
Chaudhry Sarwar added that we were thankful to Mr Massimo for supporting Kashmiri people and condemning Indian Citizenship Act. He said that the government had removed culture of ad-hoc appointments from universities and 20 vice chancellors had been appointed on merit for making institutions of higher learning fully functional. He said that the incumbent government never allowed political interference in the universities.
Governor said that he was happy that three disciplines of PU had been ranked among 250 to 300 top academic institutions of the world and PU’s QS, Times Higher Education and Nature group rankings had improved manifold and PU VC Professor Niaz Ahmad deserved due appreciation in this regard. He said that it was also a historic achievement that PU had produced 243 PhDs in one year. He encouraged entrepreneurship culture at universities so that young students could resolve economic issues being faced by the society. He said that Pakistani students were not less than European students in talent. He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan and his team understood that young people were our prime assets. He congratulated the graduating students, their parents and teachers and urged them to come forward for development of the country.
Addressing the ceremony, Mr Massimo condemned human rights violations in occupied Kashmir and India due to Citizenship Act. He said that we should stand with the people of Kashmir and Palestine who were facing atrocities. He said that the future of the world was associated with education. He said that education could prevent wars and produce tolerant people. He also paid tribute to Allama Iqbal and Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and cited their sayings. He urged the youngsters not to allow any person to say that they were too young to achieve a goal as he himself was elected as the youngest vice president of European Parliament. He thanked PU administration for awarding honorary PhD degree and said that he would always remember the love of Pakistani people that he received.
Addressing the ceremony, PU VC Professor Niaz Ahmad said that PU administration had implemented policy of merit, transparency and accountability in all the operations of the university. He said that the administration had activated all statutory bodies and their meetings were being held regularly to run PU affairs in a transparent manner. He said that production of 243 PhDs in one year was a silent revolution. VC said that the university had promoted and appointed a large number of teachers and employees purely on merit, addressing their grievances who were awaiting their rights since many years. Niaz said that the university administration was bringing academic revolution by taking several initiatives due to which PU’s international ranking had improved manifold. He said that the university also exclusively established Baba Guru Nanak and Human Rights chairs. Niaz Ahmed said that minority quota in jobs was strictly being implemented in PU. He said that to achieve sustainable development goals, produce citizens with high moral values and for socio-economic development of the country, the university has established three new teaching and research centres. He said that PU administration was also making efforts to establish state-of-the-art medical college. Later, Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar presented Honorary PhD degree to Mr Massimo and souvenirs to distinguished guests.