Pakistani youth is talented and fully capable to meet every challenge provided they are given full opportunities without any interference or criticism.
Representatives of different NGOs expressed these views while addressing various functions held to mark 'The International Youth Day' celebrated around the world including Pakistan on August 12 with a renewed pledge that maximum opportunities would be given to the youths in all fields of life.
According to them, youth development is a prerequisite to meet the growing demands and a condition for development of society as a whole. In combating poverty, progress of youth is a must, as without interventions related to education, health and employment, poverty tends to deepen when one gets older.
Addressing a seminar, the representatives of NGO-Friend of Pakistan including Dr Fauzia Khan, Nadeem, Zulfiqar Baloch and others said our youth must be motivated to maintain Pakistan's ideology and Islamic values to face the challenges of economic development, technological progress and social justice.
Nevertheless, youth must be equipped with necessary knowledge and guidance so that they can play their due role in the national life.
It may be mentioned International Youth Day is being celebrated every year since 1999 as an occasion for focusing attention on the needs of all young people.
Speakers at another function organised by NGO PEACE (Project for Environment, Anti-Narcotics and Community Education) expressed concern over increase in the trend of smoking among teenagers, which also exposed them to fatal respiratory and heart ailments.
The speakers including Professor Dr Azhar Ali Rizvi, Professor Dr Haroon Rashid Chaudhry, Dr Sheharyar Bhatti said the trend of smoking among teenage boys and girls was increasing due to widespread availability of cigarettes in educational institutions as well as shops around them. In educational institutions such as universities, colleges and to some extent, schools access to cigarettes is very easy and smokers can get it without any fear or resistance from teachers and other sources, they said.
According to Professor Dr Haroon Rashid Chaudhry, it is estimated that by 2050 the population of people older than 65 will have almost quadrupled while the proportion of children will have declined by a third. By the middle of this century, the old and the young will represent an equal share of the world's population.
By 2050, however the proportion of those aged over 60 will increase from 10 to 21 per cent, while those aged 15 and under will drop from 30 to 21 per cent. This means that, for the first time, the proportion of children/ young adolescents and older persons will be equal.
He called for resolving the problems confronted to youth including unemployment, health and education.
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