At a time when relations between India and Pakistan are at its lowest with Indian soldiers being martyred in cross-border firing in the Valley and innocent civilians on border facing the brunt, Jamia Millia Islamia invited Pakistan High Commissioner to India Sohail Mahmood at its Annual Convocation 2017 held on Monday on the campus. Union Minister for Science and Technology Dr Harsh Vardhan was the Chief Guest.
Interestingly, Jamia didn’t mention about Pakistan envoy’s presence at the convocation — seen sitting in the front row with other dignitariesin — in its release issued to the media. When The Pioneer asked unversity’s media coordinator Saima Saeed about Mahmood, she said, “We have sent invites to all heads of Missions. Pakistan High Commissioner and Indonesian Ambassador attended the convocation.” Addressing the students, Dr Vardhan exhorted them to generate "out-of-box" ideas to achieve Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of building New India by 2022.
Dr Vardhan said India since time immemorial has been a land of "vishwa gurus" as he urged students to think out of the box in their respective fields. "We have fantastic DNA and glorious past. We were Vishwagurus in all subjects. Read the history of anything science, medicine, architecture or law. I urge students to have out of the box thinking and have a dream. They all should contribute to society," said Dr Vardhan while presenting 165 gold medals to toppers, mostly women, of various courses.
Over 4,000 students were awarded degrees and diplomas. While 4,372 candidates belonging to various faculties were awarded with degrees and diplomas, a total of 322 received Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees, said the university. Among those who were present included Dr Najma A Heptulla, Chancellor of Jamia and Governor of Manipu, Vice-Chancellor Professor Talat Ahmad, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Prof Shahid Ashraf and Registrar AP Siddiqui , Deans of faculties and students.
Master of law (llM) topper, Sumaira Imtiaz was presented with "Dr Ghulam E Vahanvati" gold medal and cash prize of Rs 50,000 instituted by the family of the former Attorney General of India.
Dr Vardhan spoke highly of the academic performance of Jamia as reflected in its national and international ranking. He said he is pleased to know that the university has cutting edge and state-of-the-art laboratories and research facilities and made a special mention of Jamia's Nanotechnology and Nanosciences Centre.
Dr Heptulla reminded students of the university's "illustrious history" tied to the freedom struggle saying that it places "tremendous onus on the present generation to live up to it". "I am happy to note that Jamia is fulfilling its social mandate by making higher education accessible to school drop-out and Madarsa background children to bring them in the mainstream'" she said. Prof Talat Ahmad gave an overview of the university's performance in the last one year and also about its future plan.