PESHAWAR: The first online Qirat and Naat competition organised by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa directorate of youth affairs concluded here on Tuesday.

According to an official statement, the event was held virtually due to the outbreak of coronavirus.

Usman Zahid of Nowshera stood first in Qirat competition, Abdur Rashid of Peshawar second and Inamul Haq third.

In the Naat competition, Mohammad Azhar Khan of Kohat clinched first position, Danish Farid of Abbottabad second and Gulan Zafar of Peshawar third.

The first position holders will receive Rs100,000 cash each and second and third ones Rs70,000 and Rs50,000, respectively. The top 10 candidates will be given Rs10,000 each.

A total of 500 youth from across the province took part in the contest.

According to the statement, the digital platform called E-Muqabla was developed by the Performance Management and Reforms Unit (PMRU) at the chief secretary’s office in collaboration with the directorate of youth affairs.

“E-Muqabla is a digital platform for video competitions and mobile application is available on Android and Apple operating systems. It facilitates citizens to record their video (Naat and Qarat) and upload them on the Internet.

“The citizens can also view, share and like the videos submitted for the competition,” it said.

The organisers said the competition was held to introduce young people to online platforms and ways to continue with positive activities during the pandemic.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2021