President laments Pakistanis are lagging behind in science and technology
President Mamnoon Hussain on Saturday emphasized that Quran-learning students should be imparted contemporary education as the importance of science and technology cannot be overruled in this era.
Addressing the annual prize-distribution ceremony of the winners of the competition of Quran memorisation and recitation arranged by the International Organization for Memorization of Quran (IOMQ), the President observed that those memorize Holy Quran have usually been found excelling in contemporary education too.
The competition was held among 900 students from across the country of those 43 were short-listed for final round. Of these, only five would be selected for the international Quran competition to be held in Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
The president congratulated the winning students and their parents whose supervision and encouragement enabled their children to clinch the positions.
He also assured the government’s cooperation to the international institutions striving to promote Quran learning throughout the world and added that International Relief Organization and IOMQ were working for a noble cause.
He also lauded the brotherly and cemented ties between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and that the latter always stood with the former in any hour of distress.
He said the recent visit of Saudi Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdul Aziz also manifested the strong Pak-Saudi ties and hoped that these would further strengthen in the future.
He said Pakistan was the only state founded in name of Islam to provide the Muslim with a territory where they could practice their religion freely and establish a true democratic society.
The president viewed that the teaching of Quran was integral part of an Islamic society and also mentioned the numerous challenges being faced by the Muslim world.
Hussain said, “Arabic should be made part of our education syllabus.”
He said memorising Quran was indeed a matter of pride and called for making all Muslims realize its importance and respect those children achieving the distinction.
He said the Pakistanis were blessed with intelligent minds but unfortunately they were lagging behind in science and technology. However, he was hopeful that the country would make up the deficiency within next decade.
The president said Pakistan was sole atomic power in Muslim world proving that the nation had the potential in the field of science and technology too.
He said Pakistan always maintained friendly ties with Muslim states and always avoided strains. He lauded the efforts of the outgoing Saudi Ambassador in Pakistan Dr Abdul Aziz Ibrahim Saleh Al-Ghadeer and hoped that the new ambassador would also work to make the bilateral ties stronger.
