President Dr Arif Alvi on Tuesday underlined the need for necessary measures to ensure women involvement in the development process so as to make them a functional part of the society.
Addressing the 3rd convocation of Pakistan Institute of Fashion and Design (PIFD) here, he said that since we have our own values, we do not need to look towards West for adopting everything. He said that the West gave rights to women about 200 years back, while Islam did the same thing about 1400 years ago. “Since Islam is a complete code of life, we must always seek guidance from our religion on all aspects of life,” he added.
The president said that the government and the employers should make adjustments in such a way that a working woman should feel comfortable on her return from maternity leave, adding that these things should be taken into account consciously.
He said that investment made by parents, society and the government in education of women should not be wasted and the country should benefit from their abilities and skills. He said that it was not necessary for women to work from eight to five in an office; they might work from home in the present era.
He said that although the ratio of female students in universities was higher than male students, the situation was contrary in the institutions as far employment situation is concerned. He said this anomaly must be removed by giving equal job opportunities to both genders.
The president congratulated the graduating students and their teachers. He also gave away certificates and gold medals to the successful students.
Earlier, in her welcome address, PIFD Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Hina Tayyaba Khalil congratulated the graduating students and highlighted the hard work and commitment of the faculty in their efforts to support students throughout the process to ensure that they come up to the standards of the institute and to prepare them for their future endeavours.
As many as 845 student of bachelor programme from batches of 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 were awarded degrees whereas seven students of MPhil from batch of 2019 also received degrees.
Meanwhile, President Dr Arif Alvi Tuesday said Pakistani nation is inspired by the philosophy of serving the oppressed segments of society, which is the hallmark of our concept of Riyasat-e-Madina.
He was addressing a function after inaugurating “Welfare Complex Chiniot” at Jhang Road, Chiniot. The complex is a project of Chiniot Anjuman-e-Islamia, which comprised of LRBT Secondary Eye Hospital and Sadaqat Model Primary School for the poor people.
The president paid glowing tributes to the Chiniot community and said they were genetically entrepreneurs and did business in every part of the Subcontinent, in addition to generously contributing to social welfare projects.
He said that people belonging to Chiniot community had never ignored their culture and neither had they severed their ties with their birthplace Chiniot. “They never hesitated to sharing burden of the government, and they always took bold initiatives to serve people in their own areas,” he added.
He said that some secular elements also serve humanity, but as a Muslim we take it as our moral and religious obligation to serve the poor. He said that every Muslim has love and affection for the Holy Prophet Mohammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and we must follow in his footsteps.
The president quoted a Hadith that Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) advised people not to shout while passing through a street, keep their eyes lowered and avoid creating hurdles for others. He said that most of philanthropists belonging to Chiniot are ready to serve humanity and this is the spirit behind Riyasat-e-Madina.
He said that our Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) never saved money for himself or family and preferred to share it with poor sections of society.”I feel that Pakistani nation will rise very soon because of its generosity,” he said, and criticised the Western countries who pose themselves as custodians of human rights and said that it was Pakistan which provided refuse to 3.5 million Afghan refugees and none of political leaders opposed it in Pakistan.
