LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Shehbaz Sharif Wednesday laid the foundation stone of the main campus of Information Technology University (ITU) at Barki Road.
Addressing the ceremony, the chief minister said it was a great occasion that worked had been initiated on the main campus of ITU in the provincial metropolis.
Some years ago, ITU was set up in Arfa Karim Tower and now the new campus of the institution was being established at an ideal location at Barki Road, he added.
He congratulated the ITU Vice Chancellor Dr Umar Saif, faculty members as well as the students on the historic day. While congratulating the parents, teachers and the students who got degrees at the ITU convocation held a few days ago, the chief minister said that this university had been established by the Punjab government to provide quality education to brilliant and hardworking students.
He also said that students belonging to low-income families could study in the institution with dignity. He said that this university was promoting the vision of Quaid-e-Azam to give equal rights to all and sundry, without any discrimination of caste, colour or creed, adding that the poor and the rich should have equal opportunities in development, education and health.
The CM said that due to the wide gap between the poor and the rich people in the country, Pakistan could not achieve the goals of development and prosperity which have been attained by other countries.
Moreover, he said that the birth anniversary of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was near and we all should ponder over the teachings of the great man. Unfortunately, we have failed to follow the sayings and philosophy of Quaid-e-Azam and Allama Iqbal, he added.
ITU was an institution where the rich and the poor enjoyed equal opportunity in terms of education, he said.
The chief minister further said that Pakistan was an established nuclear power and the enemy could not treat us as pushovers, adding that despite being an atomic power, Pakistan was far behind many countries that lagged behind in the past.
He said it should be a matter of concern for us that countries like Turkey, China, South Korea and Bangladesh had surpassed Pakistan in all primary sectors. He also said that ITU was a prestigious institution of higher education which would grow from strength to strength in the future.
Punjab government is setting up the main campus of this university on an area covering 183 acres of land, he said. A few years ago, this precious piece of land was encroached upon by members of the land mafia, he added.
He also said that the Punjab government fought a case in the Supreme Court to acquire the precious piece of land, worth billions of rupees, and gifted the land to ITU to ensure that students received the best IT education in the country.
