Celebrating knowledge: ‘Librarians have a role in preserving history’

Four hostel rooms occupied by IJT members vacated.


Our Correspondent December 17, 2013
‘Librarians have a role in preserving history.’ PHOTO: FILE

LAHORE:


“Libraries are an emblem of living nations...celebration of knowledge is the only way to cope with problems like terrorism and illiteracy,” Minister for Industries, Commerce and Investment Chaudhry Muhammad Shafiq said on Monday.


He was addressing the inaugural ceremony of a two-day international conference on Champions of Libraries at the Environmental Law Auditorium of the Punjab University.

Shafiq said the government was taking expeditious steps to promote knowledge. “We [the nation] have not progressed like we should have because we have distanced ourselves from the written word,” he said.

Vice Chancellor Mujahid Kamran said knowledge was necessary for survival. “One-eighth of the Holy Quran talks about the mysteries of the universe,” he said. “This shows how important knowledge is.”

Kamran said the main purpose of universities was to create new knowledge and libraries played a fundamental role in this regard. He requested the government to provide books at subsidised rates.

Pakistan Libraries Association president Chaudhry Muhammad Hanif said the conference aimed to provide librarians a platform to benefit from each other’s experiences. He thanked Kamran for his support in organising the conference.

PLA Punjab president Muhammad Ramazan said librarians played an important role in preserving history, but librarians in Pakistan faced many problems. “We must work hard to put the country on the road to progress,” he said. Ramazan requested the government to build a vast network of libraries at school, college and union council levels. As many as 30 research papers will be presented at the conference. The moot will continue on Tuesday.

UMT Rector Hassan Suhaib Murad, GIFT University Gujranwala Rector Qaiser Shehryar Durrani, Sarhad University of Science and Information Technology VC Salimur Rehman, University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Muzaffarabad Registrar Naeem Qureshi, Muhammad Ali Muad of the Lahore UET, FCC University Prof Wasif Mumtaz Khan, Indian Library Association president DV Sing and Indian LIS Teachers Association president Jagtar Singh were also present on the occasion.

PU Admin routes IJT from Hostel 1

The Punjab University Hall Council’s administration, headed by its chairman, Dr Muhammad Akhtar, on Monday inspected Hostel 1 and vacated rooms that had been illegally occupied by IJT activists.

The IJT had set up offices at the Master Box and Study Room at the hostel. The administration seized religious political party’s flags, literature, a fax machine, cables and other office equipment. Three students were also booked for illegal occupation of rooms under the IJT’s protection. The administration has allotted the vacated rooms (113, 245, 345 and 244) to 15 students.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17th, 2013.

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