KARACHI: The under-19 team of the Debating Society of Pakistan, currently competing in the World Schools Debating Champion­ships-2015 being held in Singapore, has reached the event’s semi-finals where it will be competing against the hosts, Singapore, on Tuesday.

This was announced in a message received from Singapore on Monday.

The team comprising six members — Asad Zafar Haider (Aitchison), Hamza Tariq (LGS Paragon), Hassan Qaiser (Salamat Internatio­nal Campus for Advanced Studies), Taha Masud (Westminister) and Zainab Hamid (Karachi Grammar School) and coach Sofyan Sultan — has remained undefeated in the tournament up until now. They have won all eight of their preliminary rounds against teams from Ireland, South Korea and Peru among others.

The under-19 team called the Pakistan National Deba­ting Team unanimously won their octo final match against the Philippines on the motion: ‘This house would require members of the clergy to report all crimes to the authorities, including those made in confession’.

The team, which was selected from a gruelling national camp, then went on to defeat Greece 4-1 in the quarter-final on the motion: ‘This house believes that affirmative action policies are counter-productive in reducing inequality’.

This is the first time since 2005 that Pakistan has reached the semi-finals of the World Schools Debating Championship, an annual event held between teams from over 50 nations and an event which Pakistan has been attending since 1991. This is also the fifth time that Pakistan has reached the semi-finals.

On the previous four occasions, Pakistan proceeded to the final twice. Pakistan has also won the ‘Best Team with English as a Second Langu­a­ge Award’ a record five times.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2015

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