Old Ravian’s reunite

The Old Ravians’ Union (ORU) celebrated their annual reunion at the historical Oval Ground of the Government College University (GCU) on Saturday with a pledge to support the poor and deserving students of their alma mater who were unable to afford their academic expenses.
GCU Vice-Chancellor Dr Ikramul Haq was the chief guest of the reunion attended by bureaucrats, journalists, industrialists and politicians including former Lahore High Court Chief Justice Khwaja Muhammad Sharif, senior bureaucrat Kamran Lashari, Lahore Board Chairman Dr Ikram Kashmiri and Gymkhana Club’s Chairman Mian Misbahur Rehman.
ORU Secretary Dr Khalid Manzoor Butt said that many Old Ravians including Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif donated around Rs 130 million to the GCU Endowment Fund Trust during the last four years. He said such acts were exemplary as no other Pakistani public university had such a mechanism to involve the old students in development of their alma mater. Noted nuclear scientist and ORU President Dr Samar Mubarikmand said Old Ravians had played an important role in making Pakistan a nuclear state.
He said out of total 140 experts who carried nuclear explosions in 1998, around 60 were Old Ravians and added that the team leader of the nuclear scientists who launched the explosion was also former GCU student. He hoped GCU would provide better leadership to steer Pakistan out of its present economic and political turmoil. Chief Justice (R) Khwaja Muhammad Sharif said it was the duty of every Old Ravian to pay back the debt of his alma mater by helping the deserving students.
Former ORU President Kamran Lashari said Old Ravians remembered their alma mater not because of their degrees but due to the values, morals and confidence that the university taught them. GCU Vice Chancellor Dr Ikramul Haq said in the current age of cut-throat competition GCU was in a dire need of financial resources to keep pace with rivals in the private sector. He called on the Old Ravains to support GCU in different domains. Later, classical singer Ustad Hamid Ali Khan, comedian Hassan Abbass and singer Sanam Marvi performed at the musical evening that concluded the reunion.