Youth festival: ‘Cleaning roads showed positive side of the youth’

More than 500 delegates are attending the festival that features sessions on leadership and activism.


Aroosa Shaukat September 25, 2012

LAHORE:


Project Cleanup for Peace organised online by some youngsters to clean up major roads and buildings affected during the Ishq-i-Rasool Day protests on Friday reflected the positive attitude of the Pakistani youth, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) National Programme Officer (Youth) Sadia Atta Mehmood said on Monday.


She was speaking at the inaugural session of the third National Youth Peace Festival.

Mehmood said while most of those vandalising public property during Friday’s protests were also youths, the fact that some of the young people in the country came up with the idea to send out a message of peace was commendable.

She said with support from the United Nations agencies and the government, such initiatives could bring about a positive social change in the country.

More than 500 delegates are participating in the festival. Its theme is Together We Are the Solution.

Chanan Development Association, a non-government organisation working for empowerment of the youth, has organised the event in collaboration the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Youth Peer Education Network (Y-Peer) and the Information and Culture Department of the provincial government.

Zubair Ahmed, a volunteer with the CDA for over a year, said 200 of the delegates belonged to Lahore. Of the remaining participants, he said, the majority were from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. He said Balochistan was being represented by participants from Panjgur district.

Iqra Mughal, a student of Intermediate in Commerce, said she was attending the festival for the second time in a 20-member team organised by the Girl Guides of Pakistan.

As many as 30 youngsters have volunteered help for arrangements for the two-day event.

The festival will feature panel discussions, sessions on youth leadership and activism, theatre performances and a concert. Ali Moeen Nawazish, known for setting a world record by securing A grades in 21 of the 23 A-level exams he sat for, and Entrepreneur Sidra Iqbal will conduct most of the sessions.

CDA Executive Director Shahzad Khan told The Express Tribune that his organisation was trying to educate the youth about the religious and cultural diversity of the Pakistani people. “We discourage them from forcing their ideology on others,”

He said the festival was started in 2010 to mark the International Peace Day, observed over on September 21, under a National Youth Peace Campaign.

Khan said 400 delegates had attended the first festival in 2010.

Activities in the campaign had included identifying obstacles to promotion of peace in the society, selecting youth ‘peace builders’ and starting an inter-provincial exchange programme for the youth. He said this year the festival had been delayed because September 21 was observed as Ishq-i-Rasool Day.

The festival will conclude today (September 25) with a panel discussion attended by singer Abrarul Haq, Abdul Rauf of the Geo TV and Pakistan Hockey Team coach Khwaja Junaid.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25th, 2012.

COMMENTS (1)

Maria | 11 years ago | Reply

A great initiative by the youth to improve the streets of Lahore.

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