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  • Aug 14th, 2018
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"The speeches of founder of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah made in the first Assembly, for civil servants and the members of the armed forces are a beacon of light for all of us to take Pakistan forward towards the heights of development, progress and prosperity." Dr Umar Saif, founding Vice-Chancellor, Information Technology University said this while inaugurating an exhibition titled "Pakistan: The Making of a Nation" as a part of Independence Day celebrations by ITU's Centre for Governance and Policy here on Monday.

Dr Saif said that Pakistan's history few times has been written, re-written because of the religion, politics, polarization of society and we need to focus on primary sources to learn the truth while such exhibit brought this back to our roots and helped us to understand why this country was created, why we created space for Muslims to have their own country but also for minorities and people of all faiths live in this country.

"We need to take care of all our minorities and create an inclusive, strong and united Pakistan, just as the Quaid wanted. For us, to run this country under such principles, through institutions, on inclusiveness and with principles to support and include every segment of the society," he added.

He further stated that there were the founding principles on which this country was made and it was need of the hour to adhere to these principles, which demanded us to understand the profoundness of the words of Jinnah, to understand the profoundness of the founding fathers of this country.

"This exhibition showcases our past through a mix of pictures, documents, videos and readings of acclaimed writers, to vividly remind us of our history and heritage," he said.

On this occasion, Dr Umar Saif also launched the "partition portal" on ITU's website, which is part of ITU's collaboration with the South Asia Centre at Harvard University, a repository of material related to the 1947 partition of the Punjab. Being a great resource for academics and general public alike, this portal, for the first time, makes accessible all published government documents relating to the partition, including reports on partition violence, the exodus of refugees, and their rehabilitation. The portal also hosts a series of interviews of the living people who lived through the harrowing events of 1947 in the Punjab, taken by ITU students, thereby creating an important oral history repository.

First time some rare pictures from the first year of Pakistan's existence are being displayed, focusing on the father of the nation Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah while taking oath as Governor General and visits to all provinces of Pakistan and his meetings with various leaders and also showcasing the Quaid's last public appearance at the opening of the State Bank of Pakistan on July 1, 1948 and his funeral procession.

Several important speeches of the Quaid are also being highlighted in the exhibition.

The exhibition is also accompanied by original video clippings of the happenings of 1947, as well as readings of works by several literary figures like Saadat Hasan Manto, Amrita Pritam, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, and Kaifi Azmi.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2018


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