Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar said on Sunday that youths had played a significant role in the creation of Pakistan and there was no doubt that they were future of the country. Addressing an interactive session at the 9th Annual Youth General Assembly conference at Aiwan-i-Iqbal, he said, “It is very important for nations to learn from their past. There are two types of history, one is glorious history which makes you feel proud and another history highlights mistakes.” He said that the two nation theory was most relevant in today’s world and added that just look across the border and see what is happening in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. He said he had attended few conferences in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and other places and what was the reason that when we talk about Gaza, atrocities on Palestinians and brave Burhan Wani, then silence was seen on social media. He said what was the reason that artificial intelligence-based algorithms or under new technology, likes decrease, visibility goes down and outreach reduces. “Are artificial intelligence-based systems or algorithms fair and the answer to this question is no,” the minister added. He said that just look across the border and see what hardships Muslims were facing, adding that it was a great blessing of Allah Almighty that we are living in an independent country. He said that youths not only contributed to the creation of Pakistan but also played their role in post-management efforts after Pakistan came into being. “We have a very glorious past which should always be remembered,” he added. He said that Pakistan had received 7 billion Dollars remittances in the first quarter of the current financial year and foreign exchange reserves were increasing and it was just because of youths who were earning a good amount of forex from abroad and sending it to Pakistan. “The country’s 60 percent population is based on youths and the future is linked with them. It should be admitted that no political party in the country has done justice to youths and it is essential to accept mistakes for making corrections,” he added. The minister said that the laptop initiative had been launched to empower students and there was no example of the initiative all over the world. “Laptops were given to students purely on merit and the credit goes to this initiative that during the COVID pandemic the country’s economy remained stable as laptops helped ensure online working. People would have faced a lot of problems in online classes, work from home, if laptops had not been distributed under the initiative,” he maintained. He said that Punjab Educational Endowment Fund scholarships had not been started for political mileage. “Construction of motorways was opposed but imagine if there would have been no motorway in the country, then what type of traffic load would have been on the GT Road. It is a job of the leadership to conceive a project by foreseeing future requirements. Unfortunately, the Danish school project was opposed by the elite segment of society because it was against the existing status quo. Criticism could be on individuals but projects should not be criticised. The Metro bus was termed a ‘Jangla Bus’ and later it was replicated in Peshawar by those who criticized it,” he added. He said that political slogans should be followed if they really bring about revolution of development, adding that hollow slogans result in nothing. “In the last twelve and a half years, not a single hospital has been built in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while in Lahore Pakistan Kidney Liver Institute is working in an efficient manner and doing hundreds and thousands of kidney and liver transplants,” he said. He said that practical measures were more important than making hollow slogans. “Now youths have to decide what type of system they want in the country. It was asked at the World Economic Forum that what was the biggest threat in the world and world leaders said it was not climate change, nuclear wars but misinformation as it promotes negativity resulting in depression,” Attaullah Tarar added. To a question, he said that the mentorship programme should be started as it was very important and asked Youth General Assembly President Fahad Shahbaz to work in this regard. Responding to another question, he said it was very unfortunate that a good and bad Taliban debate had started in the country, adding that terrorists have no religion. He said, “Yesterday, Australia and England played a match in the Gaddafi Stadium and it was a very happy moment for me.” He said that terrorism would be completely eliminated and they deserve no leniency. Responding to another query regarding organ transplant, the minister said that the Human Organ Transplant Authority (HOTA) was fully functional, adding that he would talk to the HOTA chairman and the health minister so that a system could be made to get organs from those who wanted to donate them. He said he had given a proposal in Turkey that all nation states of the UN get together and form a body on disinformation and he also talked about it in China and Saudi Arabia. He said, “Every media house has its own fact check, based on their system.” Regarding the 26th amendment, he said that all political parties had a consensus on it. He said that development was not possible without a local government system, adding there was a need to develop a political consensus that whichever party comes to power it would not disturb the existing local body system. Later, he distributed laptops and Youth General Assembly President Fahad Shahbaz presented a souvenir to the federal minister.