Cultural week: Students from 42 countries paint a kaleidoscope of culture

IIUI’s 24th cultural week featured stalls depicting cultures of countries from all over the world.


Mavra Bari April 18, 2012

ISLAMABAD:


Diverse and insightful, the 24th cultural week of International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) opened at the male campus here on Tuesday.


Higher Education Commission Chairperson Javaid Laghari inaugurated the event and Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan was the guest of honour. Laghari advised students to be “job creators” rather than “job seekers” and stressed the importance of innovation. He cited the example of young successes by the recent Facebook purchase of the Instagram application for iOS and Android.

Laghari stated that the job of universities is not only to impart knowledge but to create new knowledge. He added that there are “three pillars of success in a country: investment in higher education, skilled workers, research and innovation.”

Khan began his address by requesting a prayer and a moment of silence for the fallen Siachen soldiers. He told students to not be disheartened by the “terrorism” label and instead remember that they are peace-loving Muslims. He said this is possible only if one doesn’t discern between provinces, tribes and race. As for the Pakistan-India-Kashmir issue he commented, “Let Kashmiris decide what they want to do.”

UAE Ambassador Issaabdullah Al Basha Al naimi said, “Islam encourages peace, science and brotherhood, this is our real culture.”  He also highlighted the strong relationship between UAE and Pakistan, saying that every hour there are flights connecting the two countries, which is “even more than city to city transport in Pakistan.”

The festival features stalls by students from 42 countries, depicting their cultures and traditions in dress, poetry, paintings, photographs, foods, art and literature.

Then there are stalls that represent academic faculties such as Centre of Media and Communication Studies, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Relations and Politics, Islamic Research Institute, Faculty of Management Sciences and Civil Department. The law department’s stall has a model courtroom, which attracted a large number of students on the first day pretending to play plaintiff, defendant and judge.

At another stall, Ali from Indonesia urged guests to try Indonesian food items such as “laughing cake” (Ande-ande), “layer rice cake” (Lapis Beras) and “garlic stick” (Cue Banang). He also described the bamboo and brass Indonesian instruments that he had brought along --- the flute-like “Angklung” and the xylophone-like “Gummlan”.

The speakers were given calligraphy pieces by Shamsul Iqbal Shams, an artist from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 18th, 2012.

COMMENTS (1)

meutia sutisna | 11 years ago | Reply

i think i know that boy who playing angklung... goodluck for indonesia student... go indonesia :D

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