– Asserts tech & skill-based education can lead country to progress
By Umbreen Turk
ISLAMABAD: President Arif Alvi on Monday expressed outrage at the brutal tactics being adopted by the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to crush student protests in the capital New Delhi after a contentious citizenship bill was passed by the Indian parliament last week, sparking riots and violence.
Violent protests have spread across India after the successful passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act in the Indian parliament. According to the new law, India will grant citizenship to people of numerous faiths fleeing persecution from Muslim-majority neighbouring countries, except Muslims.
In the message shared on Twitter, President Alvi wrote, “Out of 1000s of messages that have come out of India since y/day, I am tweeting this one particularly as this girl cries & narrates the brutal police action on girls inside the mosque at Jamia Milia Univ in Delhi.”
“Modi Govt is at war with Muslims using fascist Hindutva barbarism,” the president added, echoing the comparisons made by top Pakistani leadership to describe the actions of the Indian premier. Last week, Prime Minister Imran Khan had also compared Modi to world war II villain Hitler.
Meanwhile, President Dr Arif Alvi on Monday terming education vital for the country’s progress said a combination of technology and skills could help meet the challenges of contemporary world. Addressing at the ILM possible Summit held here organized by British Council, the President said education could help raise a generation with proper know-how about dealing with challenges of modern-day world.
He stressed the importance of technology which had changed the dimensions of learning and concepts of formal education by making it accessible to the techno-literate people anywhere in the world. The summit focused on British Council’s ‘ILM possible: Take a Child to School’ project encompassing enrollment and retention of school children aged 5-11 years in primary schools across Pakistan.
President Alvi appreciated the project of British Council for enrollment of 385,000 children at schools in 65 districts and regarded it as a big service for Pakistan.
He lauded the contribution of UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) in Pakistan for decades in the field of literacy and recalled his meetings with Prince Charles in Tokyo and Prince Williams in Pakistan where the discussion also focused on British partnership in the areas of education. He said education had become a subject of global importance due to need for raising awareness on common challenges including environmental protection and climate change.
The President called the need for bringing a change in the mindset of society to lay equal emphasis on education of girls. He said it was important to ensure an encouraging environment for students at schools to overcome the problem of dropout.
