Women empowerment vital for country's development: Firdous

LAHORE: Special Assistant to Chief Minister (SACM) Punjab Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan has stressed the need to engage educated women for Pakistan’s economic development through their empowerment.

She was speaking at the first international conference on social work titled “Contemporary Social Work Education & Practices: Challenges & Prospects”, organised by the Punjab University Department of Social Work, here on Tuesday.

Punjab Minister for Human Rights and Minorities Affairs Ejaz Alam Augustine, PU Vice Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmad, Pro Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Saleem Mazhar, Department of Social Work Chairperson Prof Dr Syeda Mahnaz Hasan, faculty members and teachers participated in the event.

Eminent scientists in the field of social work from the United States, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Bangladesh and other countries participated in the conference through an online system.

The SACM argued that half of the educated persons of the country are sitting at home and no state could afford wastage of such a great human resource.

Addressing the conference, Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said that gone were the days when the wars were fought on the borders. Now it was the era of fight on the fronts of economy and technology. She said that physical independence of any country was meaningless if it was not economically independent.

She said that Pakistan could not prosper until we convert our challenges into opportunities.

She said that Islam had presented a comprehensive charter of human rights for the first time. She said that the last Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (SAWW) introduced human rights to the world.

She said that the social work was aimed at serving humanity irrespective of their religion, caste, beliefs, color, gender etc.

She announced full support to the idea of Dr Mahnaz regarding the establishment of the Council of Social Work. She urged the students to follow the lesson of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah i.e. Unity, Faith Discipline in their lives.

PU VC Prof Niaz Ahmad said that we must play our role for betterment of humanity, society and individuals.

He said that only those people were successful in both worlds who did good deeds.

He praised Dr Mahnaz Hasan for playing an active role in helping society during the pandemic.

Addressing the conference, Dr Mahnaz Hasan said that the scope of social workers had enhanced manifold in the world and demanded teaching of social work as a subject at intermediate and school level. She announced the establishment of the Council of Social Work keeping in view the requirements of society.