SWABI: The president said Pakistan was a strong country and its people had faced all difficult situations with steadfastness, great courage and moral spirit. He said the country had successfully come out of all difficult challenges whether it was the 2005 devastating earthquake or 2010 floods or war against terrorism or coronavirus pandemic. He paid tributes to the sacrifices of the people of KPK and the armed forces that helped restored peace in the country. The president said Pakistan had accommodated over four million Afghan refugees for the last four decades. He said the country’s had all the potential to join the club of developed states by taking accurate decisions in right direction. Dr Arif Alvi said there was a lot of scope for IT, agriculture, science, technology and others disciplines and urged students to work with dedication and passion by using their knowledge for service of humanity and development of the country. He said conventional education system ie memorizing lessons’ was replaced mostly by computers. He said education was continuous learning and thinking process, adding “we can achieve laurels by making investment on human resource development.” Dr Alvi said fake news had emerged a big challenge and we should be very careful while disseminating news. The president said he also raised the issue of fake news in the Parliament, and that all news should be confirmed before broadcast or publishing to avoid chaos in the society. Later, the president awarded degrees to 10 PhD scholars and gold medals to 14 position holders students. Rector GIK Institute, Professor DR Fazal Ahmad Khalid welcomed the president. He highlighted the institute’s achievements and various development initiatives besides future projects. The impressive convocation ceremony was started with recitation of the holy Quran followed by the national anthem. Besides teachers and faculty members, the parents of students also attended the convocation.