F.P. Report
ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister for Political, Public Affairs, National Heritage and Culture, Engineer Amir Muqam Wednesday lauding the role of media and Journalists, said that media has an important role in creating awareness among the masses about issues and promoting the national narrative.
Addressing second One Day International Urdu Journalism Conference titled ‘Seventy-Five Years of Urdu Journalism’ organized by National Language Promotion Department (NLPD), Engr Amir Muqam highlighted the role of Urdu journalism in the Freedom movement and stability of Pakistan and said that Urdu Journalists have rendered great sacrifices for the sake of the country and democracy.
Besides others, Federal Secretary National Heritage and Culture Fareena Mazhar, well-known literary figure Iftikhar Arif, senior journalist Mujibur Rehman Shami, Hafeezullah Niazi, Ishfaq Hussain and Farhat Ullah Babar were also present on the occasion. The opening session of the conference was presided over by Adviser to Prime Minister for Political, Public Affairs, National Heritage and Culture Engr Amir Muqam.
Addressing the conference participants, Engr Amir Muqam said that the present government is committed to promoting Urdu language and taking all possible measures for its promotion at all levels.
He said that Urdu journalism has played an important role in protecting human rights and democracy; and raising voice against economic injustices in the country.
Engr Amir Muqam said that one person has divided the nation. He said that PTI’s narrative was anti-nationalism and anti-people. He said that the path of the constitution and the law must be adopted to stop this trend.
Engr Amir Muqam said that PTI protestors set Jinnah House and Radio Pakistan building on fire and destroyed archives. He said that no patriotic person can see the burnt images in Jinnah House. He termed the budget presented by the federal government as very balanced and people-friendly.
Adviser to Prime Minister Engr Amir Muqam said that despite the challenging economic conditions, the manner in which the coalition government has prepared and presented the budget in the House keeping in view the welfare of the poor and salaried class is commendable.
Earlier, Adviser to Prime Minister also inaugurated National Language Processing Laboratory (NLP) to implement and promote Urdu as the national language.
He said that the core objective of the project is to elevate Urdu to the status of languages with extensive digital data resources and equip it with modern technology applications.
The project includes the development of several applications, such as Machine Translation (MT), Speech Recognition (SR), and Optical Character Recognition (OCR), that will make language learning more accessible, facilitate cross-border communication and commerce, enable people to access online content, promote cross-cultural understanding, and help preserve language resources.
Adviser to PM Engr Amir Muqam also inaugurated three-day books fair arranged by NLPD where books of the noted publishers and writers were available at discounted prices.
On this occasion, Engr Amir Muqam also visited the book fair, where government, semi-government and private institutions and publishers from all over the country set up their book stalls. Senior journalist Mujibur Rehman Shami said that Urdu newspapers have fought battles for freedom, adding that generation after generation, Urdu literature has trained people. He expressed pleasure on the inauguration of National Language Processing Laboratory and said that it would play important role in the promotion of Urdu journalism.
Mujibur Rehman Shami said that politics and journalism are inter-connected. Earlier, while addressing the ceremony Secretary National Heritage and Culture Fareena Mazhar highlighted the role of Urdu Journalism and said that during the last 75 years, journalism not only created awareness among masses about the national and international issues but also added a great literary asset in Urdu literature.
The one-day conference was organized in connection with the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of Pakistan and aimed at highlighting the services of Urdu journalism in literature.
Senior Journalist and analyst Hafeezullah Niazi, Farhatullah Babar, renowned literary figure Iftikhar Arif and Ishfaq Hussain also spoke on the occasion.
