The groundbreaking ceremony of the country`s first ever Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Peshawar. Speaker Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Asad Qaiser unveiled the plaque for the construction of building for the institute. The new building for the centre which would comprise of three stories with a basement, six halls, nine lecture theatres, a museum, a library, three laboratories, a Jirga hall, an Audio Visual Conference room coupled with twelve offices for the staff and to be built in eighteen months at an estimated cost 120 million rupees provided by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.
Addressing the inaugural function the Speaker said that the pashtoon territory was faced with serious challenges pertaining to law and order. He added that Pakistanis especially the Pashtoons are dragged into a war with was not their own and are paying heavily for it as a result.
Asad Qaiser went further to add that Jirga is an integral part of the Pashtun Cultural norms and that’s why those people of the territory that have been detracted, can be brought into the dialogue table for negotiation in order to achieve long-lasting peace in the region.
To achieve these goals the establishment of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies is a milestone achievement and would produce human resource who can work for the peace and conflict resolution, added the speaker. Lets unite for peace and overcome ethnic divides to rise as one nation to achieve economic prosperity and social harmony in the motherland he concluded. The Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies would serve a think tank on policy matters to the provincial government, said the Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Muhammad Rasul Jan. He added BS, Master, M Phil and Ph. D classes are going to start in the institute from the coming academic year. He thanked the provincial government for releasing an amount of 120 million for the new building of the institute.
We take pride in the fact that this institute is the first amongst the mainstream public sector Universities of the country, said the Vice Chancellor. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is located in the region which has historically been used as a majesty chessboard of the imperial Great Game for more than one hundred years, said Secretary Education Ms. Farah Hamid in her speech. She added illicit arms, drugs, disproportionate pressure on services and institutions and the large scale stress on the local economy are some of the visible on the overall environment of the area. She was of the view that the KP government chose the mother institution of the province the University of Peshawar for the establishment of the centre because it has the adequate resources and manpower to run it.
The function was attended by Vice Chancellors of public sector Universities of KP. Secretaries, faculty and students of the University.
FP
