Punjab Study

LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that knowledge is a wealth which cannot be stolen or robbed. He said education is the key to elimination of poverty, unemployment, terrorism and extremism for putting the country on the road to progress and prosperity and transforming it in accordance with the vision of Quaid-e-Azam and Allama Iqbal.

He was addressing the inaugural ceremony of 26th Lahore International Book Fair at Expo Centre, Johar Town on Friday. MPs, Lahore International Book Fair Trust Chairman Zubair Saeed, Secretary Najam Sethi, writers, publishers and people of different walks of life were present on the occasion.

While addressing the function, the chief minister said intolerance in the society could be removed through promotion of education and awareness and the nation could regain its lost status by attaching due importance to acquiring knowledge. The CM announced a grant of Rs. 2 million for International Book Fair Trust and observed that holding of international book fair in the provincial metropolis augers well for promoting the trend of book reading.

Shahbaz Sharif said only those nations progressed who promoted education and modern knowledge and in view of this fact, Punjab government taken unprecedented measures for the uplift of education sector and promotion of quality education. He said IT labs had been set up in more than 4,000 schools of the province. He said the programme of distribution of laptops among talented students had been started from Rahim Yar Khan and 110,000 computers would be given by the end of March.

The CM said that it would be the success of the government even if only ten percent students who received laptops became IT experts and gave a roadmap for development of agriculture, industries and other sectors as well as supremacy of justice and merit and elimination of corruption.

The CM further said no nation could progress with the assistance of Aghyaar and the dream of progress and development could be realised only by development of resources and promotion of science and technology. He said it was ironic that on the one hand Pakistan was a nuclear power and on the other hand it has to beg from others. He said this habit of beggary would have to be shed to save the country. He said there was a need for developing indigenous resources and adopting the virtues of honesty and hard work besides renouncing such foreign assistance as undermines national sovereignty.

He said Punjab government decided not to take foreign assistance but as no nation could survive in isolation, therefore, there was a need for trade rather than aid and acquisition of technical expertise in different sectors. He said that book reading had been his passion from childhood and he had learnt many foreign languages and read a number of books in those languages.Nation.