Education Mission of Punjab Govt., Says Mowahid
Washington,
DC: The focus of the Punjab Government is
a drive towards progress and prosperity of
the people and, to that end, the spread of
education is vital for the overall development
and public well-being.This was stated by Mowahid
Hussain Shah, Minister/Special Assistant to
Chief Minister, Punjab, during his presentations
at various forums in Washington, and in an
interview with APP Wednesday.
Mowahid said that society “pays lip
service to learning,” and learned people
are not given due social significance. “This
gap was addressed when the Chief Minister,
Punjab Chaudhry Pervez Elahi convened a day-long
conference on teachers’ dignity at the
CM’s Secretariat in Lahore recently.”
The day-long conference - the first of its
kind - included teachers from rural areas,
schools, colleges and universities, along
with senior American educators and missionary
teachers, as well as a representative mix
from civil society.
The conference, Mr. Mowahid said, was a resounding
success. “Education is our mission,”
Mowahid emphasized. “We are trying to
shift the ‘thana culture’ of the
police to a public-service orientation.”
The Special Assistant said, the Punjab Cabinet
has okayed the landmark Consumer Rights’
Protection Bill which gives consumers the
right to return, refund, and replace shoddy
products. An attorney-at-law by profession,
Mowahid was entrusted by the Chief Minister
for its drafting and deliberations. It took
over one year and went through eight drafts,
incorporating input from independent consumer
activists.
In health care, he stated that public projects
are coming up through a partnership between
public and private sectors. “The spirit
of philanthropy is flourishing wherein anonymous
charitable donors have ensured that hospitals,
for example, like Mayo Hospital and Fatima
Memorial Hospital in Lahore, provide food
free of charge to patients as well as fully-subsidized
medicine and medical care to needy in-house
and outpatients,” he added.
Furthermore there is a renewed spirit of pluralism,
with minorities and women given hitherto unprecedented
scope and space to realize opportunities and
their potential. “It is unthinkable
for a Pakistani politician to use vitriolic
language against the Christian faith and other
minorities as has been done unfortunately
by mainstream figures in America against Islam,”
he asserted.
One positive development, said Mowahid, has
been in curbing the culture of revenge in
Punjab, which had squandered energies which
otherwise could have been directed toward
development. For this, he said, credit had
to be given to the Chief Minister “for
fostering a climate of decency.”
During meetings with US opinion-makers, Mowahid
warned that while the West celebrates the
15th anniversary of the coming down of the
Berlin Wall in November 1989, it continues
to erect mental barriers against Muslims.
He emphasized that “extremism is a two-way
street and the West has to be extra watchful
of its own policies and politics that may
inadvertently accelerate the spread of zealotry.”
