ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain Friday strongly condemned the ongoing violence against innocent Kashmiris by the Indian occupation forces and said Pakistani nation stood with their Kashmiri brothers in their just struggle.
Addressing the inauguration of the annual National Book Festival here at the Pakistan-China Centre, the President appealed to the international community to realize and play its part in putting an end to the gross human rights violations by the Indian forces. He said the Kashmir issue could only be resolved through implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions.
Pakistan was observing the Kashmir Solidarity Day to raise awareness globally against the unending atrocities by the Indian army in the occupied Kashmir who have unleashed a reign of terror against the unarmed civilian protestors, struggling for their right to self determination.
The President appreciated the holding of the annual book exhibition, organized by the National Book Foundation (NBF) and said the endeavour to inculcate the habit of reading amongst the young and old was getting a good response.
President Mamnoon Hussain said today there were a number of universities and institutes of higher studies that were conducting research and development besides imparting quality education in all areas in the country.
He however said that the impact and reach of these organizations could increase significantly if their mode of education was in the national language.
President Mamnoon Hussain said a lot many bright students of Pakistan could not make it up to the top in education, only because the mode of teaching was not in the Urdu language. He called for translating books on health, medicine, engineering, sciences and arts in Urdu to encourage and instill amongst the people the habit of reading.
The President said the National Book Foundation needed to focus on welfare of the writers and publishers and served as an example for others. He was optimist that the ambitious writers, scholars, scientists and researchers would be encouraged by the Book Foundation.
President Mamnoon said the human minds were fertile enough to absorb huge amounts of information and said if they were fed positive information, they turn out to be better human beings who served the humanity and made the society a better place to live.
President Mamnoon said in a world full of chaos, confusion, lawlessness and uncertainty, there was a need to generate positivity through good literary works, stimulate minds and encourage more learning.
The President said the National Book Foundation had come a long way since its inception and was playing its part in propagating the habit of book reading. He said the NBF was serving the nation with a missionary zeal by extending support to the publishers and writers in bringing to the market books on new subjects and raising knowledge base of the common man.
The President said the inclusion of books from China, Iran and Turkey was a welcome sign and would help the people get a better understanding of these brotherly countries.
Earlier, the President inaugurated the four-day National Book Festival and went around the exhibition in which over 29 bookstalls have been set up by 110 private publishers. Books on literature, science, technology, current affairs, history, philosophy, travelogue, religion have been put on display.
Adviser to Prime Minister on National History and Literary Heritage Irfan Siddique said government departments related to literary activities generally had a history of not coming up to the mark due to bureaucratic hurdles. However, he said that with concerted efforts the National Book Foundation had overcome such problems and was striving hard to achieve its objectives.
He said despite being in government control, the National Book Foundation had come a long way and was playing its role in publishing new works of literature, science and technology and encouraging book reading activities.
He said there was a need amongst the teachers, parents and students to encourage the habit of book reading.
He said there had been an encouraging response from the book readers in the country and the culture of reading was still alive. He said those publishers who bring out better quality of literature also need to be recognized for their endeavours.
