DAILY TIMES – YOUTH PEACE FESTIVAL : PEACE, TOLERANCE AND HUMANITY PROMOTED

Published: Daily Times – September 15, 2013

Youth Peace Festival : Peace, tolerance and humanity promoted

Staff Report

LAHORE: The Institute for Peace and Secular Studies (IPSS) on Saturday organised the Youth Peace Festival 2013 at Alhamra, to promote a message of peace, tolerance and humanity for the youths.

The festival focused on encouraging young citizens by celebrating their talents and achievements. It was attended by a large number of young participants including students of schools, colleges and universities from Punjab.

The festival included theatre performances, prize distribution for students performing excellent in essay, poetry, poster-design, photography and documentary competitions. Lawyer and columnist Saroop Ijaz, poet and writer Syed Razi Haider, Punjabi poet Baba Najmi and Sargodha Government College for Women Principal Shagufta Naqvi distributed prizes.

The event started with a peace song by two IPSS volunteers. The performance was followed by a combined theatre performance by the Islamabad Institute for Space Technology and theatre group AOUJ that highlighted the plight of minorities in the context of the Joseph Colony incident.

A second performance by the Azaad Theatre kept the audience engaged while highlighting the violence at the time of Partition and the need for co-existence. The event also included screening of a documentary by an amateur filmmaker on the theme, ‘Is Pakistan Safe for Minorities’. The documentary had been judged first in a competition previously organised by the IPSS. The event also included stalls from different organisations highlighting social causes as well as stalls from IPSS volunteers engaging the participants in interesting games. The Fatmid Foundation set up a blood-donation camp encouraging the festival participants to donate blood.

The first phase of the event was followed by a concert, including performances from Adnan Jahangir, Inam Ali Sirajdin Qawwal Party, Atta Khan, a young Rubab player from the Hazara University, a fusion performance by Ustad Raza Shaukat, Ustad Sajjad Tafu, Ustad Arshad Khokhar and Badnaam Band. Musician Jawad Ahmad concluded the concert with his performance.