HARIPUR, March 8: Student speakers at a bilingual declamation contest held the past rulers responsible for destabilizing the country through fanning provincial and sectarian disharmony.

The topics included 'What to say of Iqbal's Pakistan,' 'Khudi', 'Frailty is the name of woman,' 'Peace is better than war' and 'Variety is the spice of life.' The contest, organized by the Frontier Education Foundation Degree College for Women, Haripur, was presided over by Rubina Mazhar Ali Shah, the wife of FEF managing-director Mazhar Ali Shah.

The students said that the rulers in the past indulged in practices which deprived the country of attaining economic self- reliance and prosperity. Nazma Bibi of class XII, who bagged the first prize in the Urdu speech contest, was of the view that the Pakistani rulers exhibited love for the nation and patriotism only when they were out of power. She stressed the need for putting an end to what she termed a system of exploitation.

Maria Iqbal and Hifza Salim in their speeches explained the reasons which led to sectarian and provincial disharmony, saying that the foreign donor organizations had enslaved the country due to policies pursued by the rulers in the past.

Shazi Zeb, Uzma Tariq, Asia Irshad and Hina Raheed spoke on 'Khudi', while Rabia Hussain, Samia Munir, Ms Ansa and Faiza spoke on 'Frailty is the name of woman' and 'Variety is the spice of life.'

Sadia Jameel and Ms Rehana in their speeches opposed jingoism and tendency for war among the nations. They said that war opened the door to several small scale wars that brought nothing but death, agony, hunger, gloom and destruction for the people.

They said that the nations with such tendencies should learn lessons from Afghanistan, Palestine, Chechnya, Bosnia and Iraq. They said that peace and love to mankind was the symbol of dignity, respect and contentment and paved the way for prosperity and development of nations.

SESSION POSTPONED: The convener of Haripur district council postponed a session of the council due to lack of quorum here on Monday. The council's last session of March 4, 2004, was also postponed because of the same reason.