The 4th meeting of Steering Committee on Socio-political domain was held today which was attended by Finance ministers of provincial governments, Chairmen Planning & Development departments of all provinces, officers from Ministries of Law & Justice, Interior & Narcotics, Education, Religious Affairs, Higher Education Commission, National Counter Terrorism Regulatory Authority (NACTA) Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) and Prime Minister’s Youth Programme.
The steering committee follows the directives of the Central Apex Committee concerning the revised National Action Plan 2021 and was constituted on Prime Minister's directions in February this year, with a mandate to improve governance, equitable development projects and address root causes of subversion.
During the committee’s first three meetings held in March and April, directions were given by Minister Ahsan Iqbal to the concerned ministries and provincial governments regarding implementation of actions in administrative, social, economic, political and information domains to consolidate peace in the country.
Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal discussed three key issues during the fourth meeting: the educational and social well-being of youth in Balochistan, the role of entertainment industry in educating public, and the essential need to mainstream grassroots level educational institutions including Deeni Madaris.
Minister Ahsan Iqbal stated that during 2013-2018, 5000 scholarships were awarded by federal government to students in Balochistan and newly merged districts (FATA). Stressing on the importance of giving more exposure to students in these regions, the Minister stated, “An exchange program must be developed for students of Balochistan and newly merged districts (FATA) that allows them to spend a semester in top universities of other provinces.” He noted that, in addition to kinetic measures, non-kinetic actions, particularly socio-economic uplift in districts affected by conflict, were essential to improve the situation in a sustainable manner. The Minister also mentioned a study released by Planing Ministry in consultation with World Bank which presented a multidimensional poverty index, outlining 20 poorest districts of Pakistan. Drawing a strong correlation between conflict, poverty and lack of education, the Minister stated that access to quality education and improvements in lifestyle of citizens living in poorest districts will reduce their tendency towards extremism.
Chairman HEC briefed the Planning Minister that 22,8500 scholarships had been awarded to students in Balochistan so far to pursue undergrad, postgrad, M.Phil and PhD programs. “Out of the total scholarships, 608 scholarships enabled students to study in foreign universities while 21,992 scholarships were awarded for pursuing studies in local universities. Chairman HEC also briefed the Minister that Balochistan has 12 universities at present and scholarships for different disciplines have been awarded through different phases of HEC scholarship program.
The Minister was apprised by relevant departments that an interactive session has been planned to be held in the coming days for students belonging to Balochistan who are currently studying in universities in the federal capital.
Reflecting on the role and responsibilities of television industry, the directed PEMRA to ensure that every TV channel fulfills its requirement of showing public service messages during prime-time hours to maintain social order in society. “TV channels give maximum time to commercial advertisements but their time slots allotted PEMRA official stated that every TV channel is eligible for license only if it allocates 10 percent time during daily transmission to broadcast public awareness messages. The federal minister directed PEMRA to cooperate in spreading the core message of Paigham-e-Pakistan during prime time, for highest reach. “Such measures will help build a more informed and responsible society," the Minister stated.
Public awareness messages aimed at inculcating civic sense among citizens can be beneficial in educating the masses, stressed the minister. Furthermore, he instructed Ministry of Information & Broadcasting to hold meetings with the top entertainment production houses, urging them to replace typical scripts and stories with inspirational stories. “Entertainment shapes minds, that’s why monitoring is key to preventing unethical content that threatens the social fabric," stated the Minister.
While discussing the imperative of mainstreaming madrassahs, the minister stated, “A uniform single point agenda for Deeni Madaris to implement matric and intermediate equivalency must be implemented so that every student qualifying madrasa education can get admission in colleges and universities.” Explaining the hurdles faced by students seeking admission in colleges based on matric level equivalency, he directed line departments to smoothen the process.
Furthermore, he directed provincial governments to instruct district administrations to implement endorsement of Paigham-e- Pakistan's key message in all educational institutes at grassroots level in their respective districts. “District governments must ensure that all educational institutes endorses and display the core message of Paigham-e-Pakistan to build unity, harmony, and social order. Peace is a shared responsibility,” emphasized Minister Ahsan Iqbal.
The meeting concluded with Minister's direction to NACTA to compile a list of policy actions to be undertaken by federal and provincial governments to combat extremism and promote inter faith harmony.
