Federal Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira presided over the inauguration of a three-day children poster exhibition titled ‘Hum Hain Paasban Iss Kay’ at Pakistan National of the Arts (PNCA) on Sunday.
The unique poster exhibition is part of the public awareness campaign AMAN (Awareness Movement for an Alert Nation) that focuses on the responsiveness of the Pakistani public towards Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).
Objective of the children poster exhibition was to inculcate among youth the potential destruction homemade Improvise Explosive Devices (IEDs) are capable of doing and how best these IEDs could be identified, detected and brought into notice of law-enforcing agencies. The exhibition will remain open on April 23 and 24, 2012 for general public.
The interesting part of the opening ceremony that won accolades from audience was its inauguration by a 12 year old boy Noman Ahmed who had travelled all the way from Karachi.
Noman a child with a humble background, had saved the metropolitan from destruction and catastrophe of worst kind as he foiled a terrorist bid with 32 kg IED in front of a commercial bank as he noticed wires hanging out from what looked like a cement block and immediately rushed to the nearby community police station. His ready response and presence of mind saved the city from what could have been one of worst disasters in the history of Karachi.
In his address Federal Information Minister lauded the efforts and initiative of AMAN and said such campaigns were necessary to bridge the information gap on most important subject of terrorism and how to come up with a swift response.
He appealed media organizations to play their part to spread awareness and avoid creating heroes out of miscreants who bring the name of the country in disrepute. He also talked about various measures adopted by the government and armed forces to bring normalcy in strife torn areas.
He extolled the hard work put in by young students in their paintings that clearly depicted their sheer love for the country and message of hope in adversarial times. Children through their paintings had depicted how they could keep a tight vigil and protect themselves and their country in the face of lurking threats.
Over the past few years, Pakistan has witnessed terrorism at an unprecedented scale where terrorists have been brazenly carrying out terror activities without any fear of law or being caught. A trend witnessed lately is sudden surge in homemade explosive devices. These devices are cheap to design but prove extremely lethal in the wake of terrorist attacks. The AMAN campaign highlights the use of homemade explosives as their weapon of choice and informs Pakistani citizens on how to recognize, detect and alert authorities to potential threats. The word stands for peace and security in Urdu language and intends to depict a future where all people can freely work, study, and worship without fear of violent reprisals by miscreants.
It merits mentioning here entries to the competition had been selected by a panel of experts and subsequently exhibited at Pakistan National Council of Arts (PNCA), Islamabad. People of federal capital are expected to throng the PNCA due to the unique theme the exhibition carries. It will also provide them a learning opportunity on an important subject that has occupied maximum time and space in both print and electronic media for the last few years. Umer Hameed a NUST graduate serving in an MNC says,” people should welcome such initiatives and take their time out to visit such exhibition. The exhibition will provide opportunity to tell the world how resolute and firm we are in the face of terrorist attacks unleashed by a handful of perverts.
