LUMS wins English parliamentary debates

LAHORE, The Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) debating team defeated the Aitchison College in the four-day 15th All-Pakistan English Parliamentary Debates hosted by the Government College University Debating Society on Monday.

The University College Lahore defeated the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, in the final and lifted Urdu debates team trophy.

Syed Muhammad Ali Abbas Shield for the Best English speaker went to Syed Haider Naqvi from LUMS, while Sheikh Bilal Khalid from the King Edward Medical University was declared the best Urdu speaker of the tournament.

Meanwhile, the GCU Debating Society decided to rename the All-Pakistan English Parliamentary Debates Trophy as ‘Prof Khalid Aftab English Trophy’ as Prof Aftab had established the Government College Debating Society in 1993.

Rana Abdul Aziz and Dr Sameer Shaharyar were declared the best Urdu and English adjudicators, respectively.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof lffat Shah, the pioneer of parliamentary debates in Pakistan and former chairperson of English Department of the Kinnaird College, said it was very difficult to discover three decent speakers to form a parliamentary team, when the parliamentary style of debating was introduced. Over the years, she said, this style of debating had flourished to an extent that now the number of good speakers ran into hundreds.

GCU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Khalid Aftab said the university had promoted the culture of tolerance and intellect through debates, seminars and publications. Being the bastion of liberal education in Pakistan, he said, the university had nurtured some of the most prominent luminaries of the world.