The International Islamic University (IIU) on Sunday held a ceremony to celebrate the 65th Independence Day of Pakistan at the central library of the university. Rector IIU, Professor Fateh Malik presided over the Ceremony while Professor Dr Sahibzada Sajid ur Rehman, Director General Dawah Academy was the chief guest on the occasion.
Dr Mumtaz Ahmad, President IIU, Professor Qaisrah Alvi, Director Female campus, Saadia Tahir, Student Advisor (Female), Dr Safeer Awan and a large number of students and staff members attended the ceremony.
Speaking on the occasion, Professor Fateh Malik said that Pakistan was our identity and we are proud to be Pakistanis. "There is no importance of number game in building the ideology of nations, but the actual importance is of the culture and traditions," he added.
He said that Pakistan came into being to provide a separate state to the Muslims where they can practice their religious norms and values with dignity.
Today, the greatest challenges faced by the Pakistan is terrorism, fanaticism, corruption, economic collapse, deprivation of nationalities living in the backward federating units and socio-economic injustices and disparities. But these are continuously being ignored or tackled half-heartedly, said Professor Malik. Dr Mumtaz Ahmad, in his speech said that no doubt Pakistanis are facing inflation, corruption, power shortages and terrorism.
"We have learnt at every stage how to survive, and this was the strong point necessary for the survival of any nation," he maintained.
He strongly condemned the debates of 'failure state about Pakistan' by some critiques and writers in the media. Dr Mumtaz Ahmad said that ideology of Pakistan was being questioned by vested interests. Pakistan was established to safeguard rights of Muslims and present situation of Muslims in India is an evidence of justification of Pakistan.
Dr Sajid ur Rehman said that Pakistan was the objective of the struggle of all the Muslims of sub-continent, which was historically revealed to the Muslims from the past.
He added that according to Muslims the term "nation" is different from others and this was the basic reason why the Muslims of sub-continent strived for a separate country. He paid rich tributes to Quaid-e-Azam and said there was a philosophy behind Pakistan but unfortunately it was ignored and as a result the nation is suffering with the consequences.