RAWALPINDI, April 5: Adviser to the prime minister on women development Nilofar Bakhtiar has urged the students of Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU) to work shoulder-to-shoulder with boys for development of the country. She was speaking as chief guest at the bilingual declamation contest organized by the university in connection with its ongoing women's week celebrations.

The speech contest was held in both Urdu and English languages and the topics were serious as well as entertaining. The participants were invited from all over the country. Ms Bakhtiar advised the students to work hard, be active and face the modern challenges. "You should not waste your time and must make the best use of available resources.

Now the time has come when you people being half of the population have to play your role," she asserted. And, it's encouraging that women are giving tough time to their male counterparts in every field of life, she maintained. She said winning in a contest should not be the sole aim of participation but it must be taken as an healthy activity.

She expressed pleasure over her being part of the festivities of the women's week as she had been associated with the university since the time when the proposal for its establishment was made.

In the end, she distributed prizes among the winners. First prize in English speech went to Qasim Tariq of NUST while the second prize was grabbed by Faiz Haider of FAST.

The third prize was given to Shehla Shams of the host University which she withdrew in favour of Maqsood Mehmood of Peshawar University. The consolation prize was awarded to Sadia Malik of Humdard University.

In Urdu, first prize was won by Amtul Zehra of NUML, second prize by Syeda Tehreem of EME and third prize went to Abdullah from Peshawar University. The consolation prize was given to Sadia Sarwar of Bahauddin Zakria University.

Ms Bakhtiar also presented university logos to the judges, while Dr Najma gave university souvenir, paintings of students and various publications of the university to the chief guest.