Held at Mirpur University of Science and Technology (MUST)
On 19th and 20th October 2010

9th Youth in Governance workshop was held at Mirpur university of Science and Technology (MUST) on 19th and 20th October 2010.The participants of the workshop were university students from Islamabad, Kohat, Swabi, Peshawar, Lahore, Muzaffarabad and Faisalabad.

DAY 1:

Inaugural Session:

The chief guest of the inaugural session was Mr. Z. U. Khan, OBE, FRSA, Advisor to the President of Azad Kashmir. The other prominent figures included Prof. Dr. Habib-ur-Rehman, S.I., Vice Chancellor of Mirpur University of Azad Kashmir and University of Azad Kashmir, Muzaffarabad and Mr. Raja Saeed Akram, Chairman, National Accountability Bureau Azad Kashmir.

The chief guest of the session in his speech appreciated Transparency International Pakistan (TI-P) for the initiative and said that events like this must be considered very important as participating students have to play important roles in their respective fields. He said that good governance, social responsibility and transparency is essential for a democratic government. Mr. Z. U. Khan added that students are the real assets of any nation and for a better future; we need to work on them.

Chairman NAB Azad Kashmir dwelt in detail about the corruption cases in Azad Kashmir and the efforts being made by his office in dealing with them. He also said that several crores of rupees have also been recovered from the corrupt elements within a short span of time.

Vice Chancellor of MUST Azad Kashmir Prof. Dr. Habibur Rehman, S.I., said that  it is not a duty of just one person but the whole nation to work collectively against corruption.

Director Projects TI-P Dr. N. I. Khowaja highlighted TI Pakistan’s mission, goals and programs and the importance of the workshop.

SESSION 1:

The 1st session was chaired by Prof. Dr. Mushtaq Ahmed Malik, Dean Department of Zoology, MUST and the  topic of this session was “Effects of Corruption on foreign Affairs “ which was presented by Ch. Ghulam Mustafa, former Commissioner Rehabilitation and Refugees, Azad Kashmir.  He said that the Holy Quran has lots of sayings about dos and don’ts for the individual and collective good of human beings. If we view these sayings in perspective of today’s event then the students  need to work for development on both personal and collective scale and to restrict from indulging in corruption. Corruption in all its definitions stands for disliked thing while development means a bright and visible thing. Corruption causes political instability, it stops foreign investment and democracy too is endangered in such an environment.

 

SESSION 2:

The theme of this session was “Future, past and present ” delivered by Mr. Shakel Ahmed , Project Director  at High Efficiency Irrigation System, Pakistan. Prof. Dr. Shoukat Mehmood, Dean Department of Physics, MUST was the chairperson of this session. Mr. Shakel Ahmed presented a thought provoking and informative lecture. He said that it is wrong to misuse entrusted authority to derive personal gain. He explained the importance of institutional restraints on power and stressed upon the need of independent and effective judiciary. Mr. Ahmed criticized the media for generating fake stories which creates chaos rather than revealing the truth and emphasized the importance of stories that can change the prevailing situation in the country.

SESSION 3:

The topic of the last session was “Does an Education System Guarantee a corruption free future Generation”. Prof. Dr. Muhammad Sarwar Ahmed of MUST was the speaker and it was chaired by Dr. N. I. Khowaja, Director Projects, TI-P. The speaker started his session by questioning the audience about their responsibility as a student and he was of the opinion that moral deterioration is one of the reasons that is taking our future towards corruption. He said that when an individual realizes his responsibility only then he can become a better citizen. He emphasized on the need to have better teachers and better system so that it will result in a better way.

DAY 2:
           
SESSION 1:

Session one began with the recitation of Holy Quran. The theme of this session was “Corruption in Judiciary” presented by Prof. Rizwan Faiz Muhammad, Faculty of Shariah & Law, International Islamic University Islamabad. This session was chaired by Prof. Chaudhry  Naib Hussain, Dean Department of Electrical Engineering, MUST. He spoke about the pending cases in the courts due to insufficient numbers of judicial officials besides general inefficiency of the department. He also presented the ways of combating corruption which were appreciated by everyone.

SESSION 2:

The session two commenced after the Tea Break. The topic was “Corruption in Education”. The speaker was Prof. Dr. A. H. Nayyar, Director, Ali Institute of Education Lahore and a visiting faculty at the University of Princeton, USA.

The session was chaired by Prof. Dr. Riaz Moughal, Head of Electrical Engineering Department, MUST. Prof. Dr. Nayyar was of the opinion that there are many faces of corruption in the education sector like undeserving admission, cheating in entrance tests, unqualified and ghost teachers, and teachers’ absenteeism. These are some of the reasons due to which the education system is suffering a lot. He asserted that we should not enforce books on students and should make them understand the concept in such a way that they can remember it for ever.

A half hour for question answers was given at the end of each session. A lot of thought provoking questions were posed by the students. An interactive discussion took place between the participants and the speaker.

SESSION 3:

The session was chaired by Prof. Dr. A. H. Nayyar, Ali Institute of Education Lahore. The session was for student’s presentations. One speaker from each institution was given five minutes to present his views on matters relating to the topics discussed. The session showed that students grasped the subject well and very actively participated throughout the workshop. On the whole it was the perception of the students that in order to bring about a change in the society we need to start the corrective process from ourselves preferably by following the guidelines spelled out by our own religion while at the same time accepting our duties as responsible citizens .

The views and suggestions of the students were highly appreciated by the guests and speakers. Mr. Aftab Shahi from Institute of Management Sciences Kohat, won the first position, Mr. Haq Nawaz of University of Azad Jammu & Kashmir got the 2nd position, Mr. Asif Qureshi from Abaysen University, Peshawar got the 3rd prize and Mr. Fakhar Imam of Kohat University of Science and Technology won the consolation prize. Certificates were given to all the coordinators of the universities for the participating students. The workshop concluded with a vote of thanks by Dr. N. I. Khowaja, Director Projects, Transparency International – Pakistan.