PESHAWAR, Dec 19: Vice-Chancellor of the University of Peshawar Mumtaz Gul has said the Ummah is facing a difficult period and needs to unite to meet challenges of the future.

It needed unity for its survival, he said while speaking to the first re-union of the history department held at the Area Study Centre Hall, University of Peshawar, on Monday.

He said history played a pivotal role in a nation’s progress and decline. Those nations who learn from history can move in the right direction.

The vice-chancellor said he had learnt much from history and he had been lucky to be given an opportunity to run the university. Without having a proper structure for the university, one cannot develop its academics; therefore, he had undertaken a number of development projects, including an academic block, hostels, guest houses, he said and added that the academic block would accommodate 28 departments and would reduce the burden on departments. Besides, a centre of excellence would also be built in the university to promote research work.

He said that recently they had acquired 110 acres of land for a botanical garden in district Nowshera. He termed it a landmark achievement for the university and vowed to construct it on international standards.

Dean Faculty of Arts and Humanities Dr Taqi Bangash said research is ignored in Pakistan but the history department despite scarce resources produced so many scholars who were serving the nation throughout the country.

He also claimed that this department gave many vice-chancellors to the university and the first among them was Dr Ali Khan.

He said if the nation did not write history, it could not succeed in future, and added if you do not know about the past, you can not make the present useful.

He said that the history department had been terribly neglected though it had produced scholars who travelled extensively throughout the world.

The former vice-chancellor, University of Peshawar, Dr Mohammad Anwar Khan, shed light on the history of the department, especially how it was established and under what circumstances it had achieved remarkable achievements.

He said that it was our dilemma that in our institutions priority has been given to political history though there are so many types of history and students must be aware about it.

Chairman of the History Department Dr Minhajul Hassan said that the aim of the re-union was to inform existing students about their senior alumni’s achievements in practical life and in this regard they had planned to publish a newsletter, which would carry information about senior alumni for current students.

Former chairman of the department Dr Lal Baha and other senior alumni besides students were present on the occasion.