The Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) conducted the twentieth two-day PACE Collaborative workshops and debates for university students, on June 16-17, 2021, in Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). The workshop was held at University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Muzaffarabad. The event was organized after a break of three months due to third wave of Covid-19, in Pakistan, and closure of all educational institutions. The event was organized under the umbrella of the Pakistan Center of Excellence (PACE), a counter-radicalization and pluralistic values’ focused project, in collaboration with the Dutch Government.
The participants included the students of the University of AJK with a total participation of 115 student; 93 female and 22 male students.
The Head of the Department of Education, Dr. Naveed Ahmad opened the session with a thank you note to PACE team and the organizers of the event. Dr. Ahmad said that it is indeed a great opportunity for our students to get together on a platform like this workshop and be a part of learning new things. He said that he is happy to host a program that provides an environment stressing on critical thinking. He added that they appreciate the students who pose questions to their teachers and learn about perspectives instead of accepting whatever they pass on to you.
A total of five sessions were conducted on different thematic areas. On day 1, Ms. Shagufta Gul spoke on ‘Fundamental of Human Rights’. She elaborated on Article 8-28 of the Constitution of 1973 and Universal Declaration of Human Rights in detail.
Mr. Dawood Naveed shared his views on ‘Equal Citizenry’ and discussed about why equality in a system is important. Ms. Sania Naseem spoke on ‘Leadership and Motivation’. She detailed on qualities of a good leader in an interactive session with students. She said that there are different styles of leadership including autocratic, visionary, affiliative, democratic, pace-setting and coaching. She added that you don’t have to be extraordinarily brilliant or the smartest one to be a leader, all it takes is courage, confidence and risk-taking.
On day 2, Ms. Shagufta Gul had another session on ‘Peace Building and Conflict Resolution. She elaborated on the context, behavior and attitude model of conflict to students. Tolerance and patience are the two main components which can lead us to a peaceful society. Ms. Sania Naseem had her second session on ‘Respect for Diversity, Rights and Opinions’. The session started with a group activity to find out similarities and differences among themselves which concluded as diversity is all about understanding differences and respecting perspectives. Ms. Naseem added that diversity makes one look unique and different than others and being different is beautiful.
The students attended all the session and appreciated the knowledge imparted during the sessions. They were of the view that such sessions should be conducted more often because it encourages them to come up with the questions they cannot ask or inquire about in normal routine.