The shining orators from top 52 educational institutions of the country, while addressing the 21st GCU Parliamentary Style Debates 2016 on Monday, strongly condemned the terror attack at Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park. The blood of the innocent children would ultimately drown the perpetrators of violence and terror, they said.
They expressed their resolve to counter the cowardly attacks by the retrogressive enemies of Pakistan by standing firmly for the enlightenment, egalitarianism and peace. “We shall combat the faceless enemy with unity and education,” they added.
The orators also observed a minute of silence at the beginning of the final rounds of the debates to show solidarity with the families of the martyrs and the injured.
The four-day debating contest, organised by the Government College University Lahore Debating Society (GCUDS), was one of the biggest national parliamentary style debates of the country in which highly crucial socio-political topics were debated by the top orators of the country.
The English and Urdu topics in the finals on Monday were titled, “This House would remove all physical manifestations of racists’ legacy in universities and public spaces” and “This House believes that formation of student unions would result in political maturity of students.”
Speaking on the occasion, GCUDS President Muhammad Afzan Munir said that the competing teams, adjudicators and a large number of students turned up for the public debate on Monday in spite of the prevalent air of mourning and distress. This reflected their resolve to continue with healthy and constructive academic debate which the retrogressive forces are adamant to gag.
After the final round, the Public Speaking Forum (PSF) was declared the best English team of the competition and was awarded the prestigious Prof. Khalid Aftab Trophy. The PSF beat Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in the finals.
At the individual level, the Punjab University orator, Hamid Raza, secured the Syed Muhammad Ali Abbass Shield for the best English speaker, and Abrar Ahmed Butt from the University of Engineering and Technology Lahore (UET) was declared the best Urdu speaker of the contest. The team trophy of the Urdu parliamentary debates was also bagged by the PSF.
Professor Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed, an eminent Swedish political scientist of Pakistani origin, was the chief guest on the occasion. The debates were adjudicated by eminent former orators Anwar-ul-Haq, Muhammad Umer Khan, Zulqurnain Cheena, Moaviz Siddique Nizami, Saad-ul-Hassan, Ahmed Chaudhry, Zahid Ali, Abdullah Sherdil Khan and Misbah Mukhtar.
Addressing the orators, Prof Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed traced the origin of debating in the Greek period through the work of Socrates and Plato. He praised the oratorical skills of the competing finalists and gave away trophies to the winners.
