PESHAWAR, Dec 17: National Accountability Bureau (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) Director General Col (retired) Khurshid Alam has called on youth to blow the whistle on corrupt elements and cooperate with the bureau to uproot the menace of corruption.

He was addressing a seminar on ‘Character building of youth’ at Agha Khan Auditorium, University of Peshawar (UoP) on Monday. The seminar was organised by Institute of Social Work, Sociology and Gender Studies of UoP in collaboration with NAB.

Mr Alam said that individuals in government service were involved in corruption to fulfil the unnecessary demands of their children and families. He asked students to cooperate with the accountability organisations and unearth injustices in society, at least, by adapting to a whistle blowing approach.  The NAB provincial chief appreciated the establishment of Character Building Society at UoP, saying awareness and education could minimise corruption in society.

NAB Prevention and Awareness Director Col (retired) Waheedullah Khan stressed the need for developing individual and national character. “I know for a fact that people, who have enough money to take care of financial needs of their families for several generations, are involved in corruption,” he said.

He said that in many cases after arresting the culprits they asked their families to come for a plea bargain and return the money to the national exchequer for release of the arrested persons. “Surprisingly, in most of the cases their families have not opted to rescue the persons,” he added.

UoP Vice-chancellor Dr Qibla Ayaz said that teachers must transform their role to an educator and focus on character formation of youth. He advised students to get rid of negative thinking and focus their efforts on image building of the country.

The UoP vice-chancellor underlined the need for a positive role of media and contribution of local literature to create awareness and character building of the youth.

Malakand University Vice-chancellor Dr Johar Ali termed trust deficit among institutions and individuals as a major cause of deteriorating national character.

Institute of Social Work, Sociology and Gender Studies Director Dr Niaz said that the department of criminology would become operational from the next academic year.

PUTA president Jamil Ahmed Chitrali spoke about the role of academia in character building.

On the occasion, students presented a skit that showed how corruption was prevalent in government institutions and how it deprived qualified youth of getting jobs.

The skit, highlighting the level of corruption and nepotism in the society, was appreciated by the participants of the seminar.

Meanwhile, UoP would hold a three-day national symposium on ‘Frontiers in physics’ on Dec 19.

According to a press release, the inaugural session of the event would be held at Pashto Cultural Museum Hall, UoP at 10: 30am. Dr Aneesa Qamar, the chief organiser of the three-day event, said that arrangements had been finalised and they were expecting a number of renowned scholars and scientists from across the country to attend the symposium.