The
3-Day Professional Training Workshop for 31 of journalism studies Students from
Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan
and other universities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Islamabad concluded.
The workshop was
organized by Pakistan Peace Collective (PPC), a research & communication
project of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (M/O, I&B). It may
be recalled that project works on the peace-building campaigns to counter the
trends of violent extremism in Pakistan and simultaneously organised training
workshops on capacity building of media students for developing creative media
content.
Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan,
Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting, attended
the concluding session of the training workshop. While addressing the
participants, she emphasized upon the need for peace and harmony in society to
achieve a higher benchmark of progress and development. She advised the
participants to strive for achieving the higher objectives of life and play
their due role in this regard, when they enter into practical life. She later
distributed certificates among the participants of the workshop.
Mian Shabbir Anwer,
CEO PPC, while welcoming the chief guest lauded her keen interest in various
activities of the project (PPC). He also appreciated the support extended by
the faculties of the universities in selection and nomination of students for
the said training. He expressed confidence that the participants would utilize
the lessons learnt during the training workshop and contribute towards the
peace building efforts as responsible communicators particularly while covering
issues of violent extremism.
The training workshop
unwrapped two days earlier with a session on the Narratives, Impact &
Critical Analysis of Violent Extremism in Pakistan, delivered by Mr. Khursheed
Nadeem, a religious scholar. For the session based on Paigham e Pakistan, Dr
Aftab Ahmed Sangra delivered his views. Dr Aftab is Head of Department,
Comparative Studies of World Religions and Secretary, Council of Islamic
Research Institute.\
Paigham e Pakistan, he
said, is a social contract validated by all the political parties as well as
ulema and masha’ikh of all schools of thoughts. Students were also given a
chance to interact with the resilient and brave citizen of Pakistan; Mr. Inayat
Ullah Khan Incharge Bomb Disposal Unit D.I. Khan KPK Police; he narrated his own
real time experiences in combating terrorist activities in Pakistan.
Other sessions of
training workshop included Media’s role in Countering Violent Extremism (CVE),
the social and psychological impact of Conflict Reporting in Pakistan as well
as Critical Thinking: while Communicating on Conflict in Pakistan. The training
ended with course modules of Video Production Techniques included research
scripting, interview and camera techniques, grammar of sound, lightning and
editing. In the practical exercises, participants also produced media products
through smartphones based on the training themes.
Kamran Butt from
National College of Arts Lahore, Tahir Imran Mian from BBC, Usman Zafar and
Faizan Gul from PPC also delivered their respective lectures during the
training. The participants attending the training workshop belonged to various
universities from provinces of KPK, GB and federal capital.
The cities from
where from students participated included Dera Ismail Khan, Mardan, Malakand,
Peshawar, Hazara, Gilgit and Islamabad. Pakistan Peace Collective will soon be
organizing similar one-cluster training workshop next week for media students
from ten (10) more universities of Sindh and Baluchistan provinces of Pakistan.
