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| July 28, 2005 | Thursday | Jumadi-us-Sani 20, 1426 |
President asks youth to reject obscurantism
RAWALPINDI, July 27: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday called on the youth of the country to reject obscurantism and retrogressive thinking and project Pakistan’s rich Islamic culture “in a true perspective”.
“While we make strides in the field of science and technology, the importance of arts has also to be recognized,” he said while inaugurating the Rawalpindi campus of the National College of Arts (NCA) of Lahore.
President Musharraf said Pakistan was standing at “the cross- roads of challenges and opportunities” and asked the young to help steer it forward as a moderate and dynamic Islamic country.
“We have to be part of this world which has become a global village. If we want to grab an appropriate position for Pakistan in the comity of nations, we will have to intermingle with the outside world and play our part in all its affairs,” he said.
Gen Musharraf called for discouraging retrograde thinking at political and social levels for a societal change. Extremist tendencies should also be shed.
“Only then can we realise the vast economic potential of the country and utilise them,” he said.
“Extremists have always been behind time because they oppose use of modern technologies which are necessary for progress and development and moving ahead,” he added.
President Musharraf asserted that the status quo won’t be tenable. “We must rise not fall. We have a fleeting moment today. The younger generation, particularly, has to seize this moment and put the country on the right track to progress and prosperity.”
Pakistan’s cultural diversity should be used to promote inter-regional harmony at home and building the country’s image abroad. Establishment of art institutions like the NCA would help achieve these objectives, the president said.
He repeated the government resolve to sustain the country’s economic achievements and promised an economically-advanced Pakistan would be transferred to the youth. During the last five years, the government had brought the neglected parts of the country into the mainstream development scheme, he said.
The president praised the government’s policy to allow private electronic media channels and said these had opened new economic opportunities for artists, performers, dramatists, writers and campers.
The president announced a Rs30 million grant for the new arts college and said the Liaqat Memorial Hall would be part of the college.
Others who attended the ceremony included Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool, Federal Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, Federal Education Minister Lt-Gen (retired) Javed Ashraf Qazi, Federal Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Minister of State for Information Anisa Zeb Tahikheli, Minister of State for Culture and Youth Affairs Muhammad Ali Durrani, high civil-military officials, educationists and artists.
Poor arrangements and unnecessary security for the ceremony created great trouble and inconvenience for those invited to the function, general public and motorists.
Dozens of people including journalists who had invitation cards were turned back by the police and military personnel deployed for the security of Gen Musharraf all around the venue of the ceremony. Many of the invitees had to go back after seeing the situation and facing misbehaviour from the security guards.
Much before the arrival of Gen Musharraf till he left the venue, one side of the narrow, congested and busiest Liaqat Road was closed for all kinds of traffic. Vehicles and motorists had to take a detour and ride through the confined inside roads and streets.
The tehsil office had been turned into a parking lot but it could hardly accommodate even half of the guests. Others had to run here and there, back and forth to find a place for their cars.
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