Altaf Hamid Rao,
MIRPUR (AJK): The public-sector world-class Mirpur University of Science and Technology (MUST), Mirpur will be organizing Seminar on recently introduced “Constitutional Reforms 2018” in AJK, at the Varsity campus here on Monday-August 06, the MUST officially declared.
AJK President Sardar Muhammad Masood Khan, who is also Chancellor of the MUST, will be chief guest at the inaugural ceremony of the seminar. Whereas AJK Prime Minister Raja Muhammad Farooq Haider Khan will be Chief Guest at the concluding ceremony, Vice Chancellor MUST Prof. Dr. Habib ur Rehman (SI) told this Correspondent here Wednesday.
The seminar will carry different topics / themes to be expressed including
Reform Process, urgent need of good governance and accountability; Empowerment or integration; A constructive debate; Empowerment of the AJK and future direction of the freedom struggle against Indian occupation; Reform process and need for indigenous capacity building; Democratic progression and its vital linkage with the Development of Print and Electronic Media in the AJK; Reform is a Continuing Process; What is in Store for Tomorrow.
The resource persons of the seminar include; Ambassador Arif Kamal, Prof. Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed, Former Chairperson, Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, Prof. Dr. Muhammad Khan, Professor of International Relations, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Justice Retired Abdul Majeed Malik, Former Chief Justice Azad Jammu and Kashmir, renowned law expert Raja Muhammad Hanif Khan, Advocate Supreme Court, Ershad Mahmud, Islamabad based Journalist and Executive Director of Centre for Peace, Development and Reforms and Muhammad Shakil, Station Director, Azad Kashmir Radio, Mirpur.
The Department of Law of the University is organizing the Seminar on the important topic .
Elaborating the objectives of holding of the seminar, the Vice Chancellor Dr. Habib ur Rehman said that need of the seminar on the subject was felt by the University. Important themes were formed for deliberation in the seminar.
The MUST is known for organizing conferences and seminars on national issues including Kashmir. The university will continue playing its role and fulfills its mission and purpose; serving the society is our hallmark, he asserted.
This seminar is also an important step in the right direction, he maintained. “It is a matter of great pleasure that Muhammad Masood Khan, President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir/ Chancellor MUST and Raja Muhammad Farooq Haider Khan, Prime Minister of the Azad Government of the State of Jammu and Kashmir have very kindly consented to grace the inauguration and concluding ceremonies of the Seminar as Chief Guests, respectively’’, he said.
Dr Habib ur Rehman said he is also happy that renowned experts in the field have consented to participate in the seminar and will express their valuable views and thoughts on the subjects, he added. He expressed the hope that the seminar will prove beneficial for the institutions besides the peoples of the AJK and organizing seminar will be unique honour for the University.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Department of Law, MUST, Muhammad Yasin Khan said that some people were critical; been showing concerns on the constitutional amendments and were of the view that the amendments were made in haste and the state may suffer while other are of the view that the amendments were the long awaited and are directed at benefiting the people and the Azad State.
“Considering the obligation, the department has decided to organize a seminar on the subject and invited experts and opinion makers to deliberate on the subject, so that people of the AJK may know the reality. He hoped that the seminar will prove beneficial and fruitful. The faculty members and students of the department of law, legal fraternity in Mirpur and members of the civil society, leading journalists and representatives of the press and electronic media will participate in the seminar.
The law students of the varsity were particularly jubilant that President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and the Prime Minster of Azad Government of the State of Jammu and Kashmir are coming to the University on the same day to grace the occasion, which they added, will be a unique honour, a group of law students acclaimed.
The law department head underlined that in view of the continuing discussion on the subject and need to bring further reforms or improvement to the existing for better, the University considered it appropriate to hold academic discussion on the subject. “The University has invited renowned experts in the field of political science, international relations and legal experts, so that people of the AJK may know and understand the reforms”, he added.
It is worthwhile mentioning that the reforms process continued for decades, the incumbent Prime Minister Raja Muhammad Farooq Haider Khan-led AJK Government achieved the constitutional reforms 2018 through 13th amendment in Interim Constitution of AJK Act-1974. Observers asserted that post reforms AJK will be much better and more prosper and strengthened. The people of the AJK hope that the constitutional reforms will bring about socio-economic uplift and speedy progress for them and they will be more strengthened than the pre-reforms period.
