LAHORE: The Debating Society of the Government College University (GCU) Tuesday held the second GCU Annual Internal Pashto Debate 2017 contest.
It was the first time when a large number of Pashtun female students also participated in the debating competition titled ‘Amalgamation of FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will blur the identity of FATA’, which draw mix comments from orators.
Speaking on the occasion, GCU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Hassan Amir Shah said Pashto was the second-largest regional language of Pakistan widely spoken in the west and northwest of the country.
He expressed satisfaction over the cultural harmony being observed by Ravians hailing from different ethnic backgrounds. “We respect diversity and it is best manifested in celebrations of various regional languages, customs and traditions,” he said.
GCU Debating Society President Raza Aftab Gillani said the provincial governments should also hold debates in other regional languages. More than 100 speakers participated in the initial round whereas 16 contestants took part in the finals.
Muhammad Kashif Khan from the Political Science Department was adjudicated the best Pashto speaker of GCU, while Wajid Aslam from the Economics Department stood second.
