PU celebrates World Mountain Day

LAHORE: (Thursday, December 11, 2014): Punjab University Centre for Integrated Mountain Research (CIMR) on Thursday celebrated World Mountain Day with enthusiasm and organized a walk, mountain cultural and musical performance, special lectures and screened a video documentary on the lifestyle of people living on the mountains. A ceremony was organized at the centre’s lawns in which PU Acting Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Ehsan Malik, CIMR Director Dr Khalid Khan, guest of honor Dr Aurangzeb Hafi, Mansha Qazi, faculty members and a large number of student were present on the occasion. Addressing the ceremony, Dr Ehsan Malik said that mountains guaranteed our life and we must take practical measures with comprehensive planning to save the life of mountains in order to save our own life. He said that an integrated strategy must be adopted and implemented for the development of people living on the mountains. He said that Allah had blessed Pakistan with abundance of natural resources and in our Islamic history, important incidents had happened in Cave Hira, Cave Saur, Jabl-e-Ahad and Jabl-e-Rehmat. He said that the Muslims ruled the world for over 700 years only on the basis of knowledge. Therefore, he said, we must promote research culture to regain our glory. Dr Aurangzeb Hafi said that if we did not make effort to protect the environment of mountains, it would cause destructive environmental effects throughout the planet. He said that human and industrial garbage were increasing the risk of hydro toxicology, which was just like a time bomb. He said that we must adopt integrated approach instead of segmented approach to address the issue otherwise there would be no potable water for our next generations. Dr Khalida Khan said that 58 percent of Pakistan consisted of mountainous area and CIMR was the first and only academic institution in the country to do research on mountains and people living around. She said that unfortunately, our mountains were rich in resources but our people living there were living a painful life. She said that CIMR now had started PhD and M Phil programs and had been acknowledged internationally. Mansha Qazi said that the universe was created on a balance and if the balance was disturbed, there would be destruction. During the ceremony, a cake was cut, male students performed cultural dance of Gilgit, Chitral, Balochistan and Tajik and a documentary was also screened on the lifestyle of people of remote hilly areas. Earlier, Dr Ehsan Malik led a walk in which teachers and students participated to mark World Mountain Day. Tweet Follow @pu_lhr_official