| PESHAWAR: The NWFP Governor, Mr. Owais Ahmed Ghani has said that though the nation is passing through a very critical stage of its history, mainly because of economic crisis, yet, he said it has the ability to come over it successfully.
"History is testimony to this fact; if one has a glance over the past, he finds that this nation had passed through many challenges and on each time, it returned with great success and there is no reason that we would find a more dynamic and stable future this time too", he added.
Addressing as the chief guest at the Convocation - 2008 of University of Peshawar at its premises on Thursday, the Governor said, in fact, we had took start at the time of independence from scratches and today, with the Grace of Allah Almighty, one can see a lot of development in every field of life.
So much so, he added, we are the sole nuclear power amongst the Islamic World. In all 900 graduates, who got Doctorate of Philosophy, Master of Philosophy, Master of Science, Master of Arts, Master of Commerce and B.Com (Honour) degrees in various disciplines, 40 were also awarded gold medals for achieving distinctive positions in their respective disciplines.
As far as law and order problems are concerned, the Governor said, we are very well heading in controlling the situation both at the national and provincial levels.
"Things are far better today as compared to few months back and there exists every hope that we would achieve complete success in making the situation fully normal in the entire country, especially in this province", he said.
In fact, he remarked, it is the people who themselves are rising in support of the actions of the government against miscreants and helping in controlling the situation. In fact, the Governor said, these developments are the direct result of the fallouts of the geo-political situation, prevailing in our neighbouring country for the last almost 30 years and we are compelled to confront the problems without any fault on our part.
"Neither had we invited a former super power to invade that country in 1979 nor we have any role in bringing the forces of the present one, in the wake of 9/11 in Afghanistan", he pointed out.
However, the Governor said, it had remained our principle stand since very beginning that there must be a home grown political dialogue oriented solution to resolve the crisis in that country.
"We not only still stand by our principle stand but are also making efforts to materialize it", he added. "We have been living with the history and have no doubt in our mind that there can never be a military solution of the problem", he further pointed out.
Today the world also realizes the gravity of the issue; the dialogue process is in progress and hopefully it will reach to a logical solution of the problem", Owais Ahmed Ghani said.
The Governor also made it clear that we have a strong belief that a peaceful and stable Afghanistan is must for ensuring peace and stability in Pakistan and we wish complete success of the dialogue process.
Pointing towards graduates, the Governor who is also the Chancellor of the University said, nation has been investing a lot in promotion of education especially in the higher sector and apart from strengthening the existing universities; new ones are also coming up. This, he said, is the result of a well thought approach to develop the higher education sector to the desired level.
In fact, he said, it is the higher education sector which provides leadership in every field of life; including the economy, education, politics, science, technology, etc and therefore, he added, the graduates owe a lot of debt to the nation, which they have to re-pay in their practical life.
You are the future leaders of the nation in your respective fields and you must continue your struggle to further develop yourselves to come up the expectations of the nation, he advised the graduates. You; the graduates, he added, may confront many challenges in your lives and you must never scare of them rather face them in a humble manner.
The tougher the difficulties, he pointed out, would ensure brighter future for you and therefore, always consider them, a process of polishing your abilities, the Governor said.
This, he said, may only become possible, if one has a lot of spirit and courage to confront the challenges. "I wish you every success in your practical lives", he said.
The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dr. Azmat Hayat Khan, earlier, presenting the annual report of the University said, this is an internationally recognized institution, having a decisive role and contribution in development and promotion of education in the country especially in this region.
The development of the university, he said, is a continuous process and we are doing our best to achieve the desired goals.
Three new disciplines, with the names of: the Disaster Management; the Risk Management and the Material Sciences departments are being introduced, he said. Side by side, he added, as a part of institutional development and ensuring better management processes, more institutions are being created, by merging various existing departments of the university.
Similarly, he said, apart from the continuous process of carrying out Ph.D level studies at the campus of the University, 20 faculty members are also doing their Ph.D level studies in various internationally recognized universities abroad, out of which 14 are being sponsored by Higher Education Commission.
During the year, 2006-7, he said, the university has produced 137 research papers, including seven books while a number of conferences and workshops were also conducted during the period.
Besides, the Vice Chancellor said, almost 1800 students have availed scholarships while studying at the campus through many internal and external resources wherein, the university has contributed a total amount to the tune of Rs.8 million over the period.
The Higher Education Commission, he said, has adjudged the University, as "A" level institution in the country in the recently conducted institutional assessment process, he said.
Earlier, the Governor gave away degrees and gold medals to the graduates. Ms. Gul Rukh Mahboob, Zahir Shah, Saima Waseem, Gul Rukh, Jamal Ahmed, Arshad Mahmood, Syed Muhammad Tauseef Shah, Ms. Shiba Shaukat, Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, Mehrin Ghiyas, Gohar Ali, Abid Jan, Muhammad Ismail, Ms. Saadia Jehangir, Sikandar Khan, Fawad Khan, Nadia Gul Khattak, Arif Ali, Abdul Wahab, Ms. Nagina Begum, Ms. Afshan Jamshed, Ms. Sanaa Naz, Ms. Asma Younas, Murad Ali Khan, Nasir Ali, Najeebzada, Anwar Khan, Ms. Nausheen, Ms. Nagina Khanam, Khan Alam, Ms. Mehrin Khursheed, Shershah, Ms. Saima Murad, Ms. Aisha Kausar, Alam Khan, Ms. Aaliya Jehangir, Ms. Saira Hamayoun, Zardad Khan, Ms. Nadia Gul Khattak and Anwarzada achieved gold medals for getting distinctive positions in their respective disciplines. |