LAHORE: The Punjab government has approved the establishment of a dedicated fund with Rs500 million as the seed money for the Centre of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism as the province moves to intensify efforts under the National Action Plan.
The approval was granted at the fifth meeting of the board of governors of the centre, functioning under the Punjab Home Department. The meeting, chaired by Cabinet Committee on Law and Order chairman Khawaja Salman Rafique, was attended by home secretary Dr Ahmed Javed Qazi, law department secretary Asif Bilal Lodhi, auqaf department secretary Dr Ehsan Bhatta, special secretary (Home) Zainab Khan, Chief Coordination Officer Ghulam Saghir Shahid and other officials who ratified the decisions of its fourth meeting.
A major focus of the meeting was the report on the “Punjab Youth Innovation and Incubation Competition 2026” organised under the Centre of Excellence.
According to the briefing, 51 universities from across Punjab submitted 154 innovative projects. After scrutiny by a technical evaluation committee of experts, 50 projects were shortlisted for final presentation.
Students securing the top three positions presented their projects before the board.
The first prize was won by female students of the University of Management and Technology (UMT) for a project aimed at reducing the cost and improving the quality of DNA testing. The second position went to the students of Fatima Jinnah Medical University for their project on reducing the cost of cancer diagnosis and treatment. The third position was secured by a student of Superior University for developing an AI-based model to control objectionable content on children’s mobile phones.
The board announced cash prizes of Rs1m, Rs750,000 and Rs500,000 for the first, second and third positions, respectively.
The BoG decided that the winning students would be attached with the Punjab Forensic Science Authority, the health department and the Punjab Information Technology Board for further development and implementation of their projects.
The board also directed the Punjab Information and Culture Department to launch awareness programmes to promote the message of peace among youth, while the higher education department was tasked with organising speech, theatre, essay writing and poster competitions in educational institutions.
Khawaja Salman Rafique and home secretary Dr Ahmed Javed Qazi spoke on the occasion.
Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2026
