People spreading negativity and hate speech in the name of freedom of speech should be held responsible for their actions, said Justice (retired) Nasira Iqbal.
Justice (retd) Iqbal was delivering the keynote address on the issue of Rights Vs Responsibilities on the fifth day of the Young Leaders' Conference (YLC).
"If we don't take responsibility for our actions and their impact, and continue to exploit our rights in the name of freedom, we will move towards a chaotic and dysfunctional society rather than a society where we strive for collective benefit," she said.Day five of the YLC was dedicated to let its participants know about the history and politics of the region as an essential component of their upbringing to assume leadership roles in the near future.
The day's theme was History and Politics-Iqtidar and the champs of the proceedings were Shireen Naqvi and Faizan Arafat.
The day's proceedings were conducted with the aim that the budding leaders of tomorrow should have ample knowledge about politics and history to act as responsible global citizens. The day was intended to promote political, cultural, and historical awareness among the young participants of the conference.
The conference's different sessions also explored the need for doing diplomacy in the present age of turmoil for promoting peace in the global environment.
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Waqar Ali's session titled The History of Human Struggle highlighted the importance of history and how it was termed the black box of cause and effect because of its opaque nature. He talked about five important points in the past 500 years' history that shaped nations and their ways of living.
Arfa Syeda Zehra's session titled Sach ka Samna or facing the truth was an attempt to shed light on the blind spots in our history books and made the participants aware as how these narratives come about.
She said in her talk that a large part of our identity stemmed from our history and culture that is deep within our land. It is ironic then, how history as we know it, does show us the full picture.
"Understanding the circumstances that have brought us here today are crucial for us to understand what it means to be a Pakistani," she said.
Shireen Naqvi and Faizan Arafat's joint session Rewind and Forward was aimed at telling the YLC participants that our current reality is shaped by a multitude of events in our history, every one of which affects our state today. "Everything that is happening today will be history one day, and everything we do today shapes what the world will look like tomorrow," the participants were informed.
Shireen Naqvi in her session Alliance Formation talked about the frequent formation of alliances by different political parties in the country to come into power and to what extent this culture affects political governance in Pakistan.
Rizwan Jaffer in his session explored if diplomacy was just another word for hypocrisy and made the conference participants understand how important it was to stay true to their values especially in times of disagreement.
Barrister Shahid Jamil conducted the Presidential Debate of the day. The activity Dayar-e-Ishq or the land of love was conducted by Waqar. DNA
Published in The Express Tribune, September 13th, 2021.
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