ALHAMDULLILAH, after having granted all taxes free mobile phones for the Visually Impaired and other efforts regarding Urdu talking software, duty free car and otherwise, A Three days national conference was jointly organized by Pakistan Disabled Foundation and AKAB Mirpur AJK from 4 – 6th August 2021 at Must University Mirpur AjK conference started with the arrival of guest introduction and summarization on 4th morning of August, The Disable delegates, speakers and Special Guest took part from all over the country including Quetta, Hango, Abbottabad and AJK. The inaugural ceremony of the conference was held immediate after the lunch on 4th August 2021 which was graced by Prof. Dr. Saadat Hanif Daar Registrar as the chief guest and Prof. Dr. Sajjad Patron in Chief Mirpur University of Science and Technology (MUST) AJK while Chairman Pakistan Disabled Foundation 0(PDF) presented address of Welcome by highlighting the background of the conference and brief sketch of the activities with special reference to the technology throughout the country. Prof. Ilyas Ayub the Azad Kashmir Association of the Blind (AKAB) chief given the introduction of the conference and purpose to Host the conference under AKAB Mirpur AJK. Prof. Shakila Yasmin vice Chairperson PDF presented thanks to the guest, participants and authorities of the universities for the kind accommodation.
The inaugural ceremony which was immediately followed first business session “Duty free talking mobile for visually impaired” presided over by Dr. Shagufta Iqbal from Quetta under topic:
A: How to avail the facility.
B: How to avail the facility in the light of the admissive rule and criteria.
The following were the main speakers as the representative of the consumers that is blind community Mr. Ahmed Karim Faisalabad, Mr. Kamal Yousuf Peshawar, Abdullah Zubair Hyderabad, Abdullah zafar Islamabad and shahid Sohail Zafar from Mirpur AJK.
2nd business session presided over by Mr. Jamal Anwar Awan Member International Coordination ministry of Information technology as the chief Guest and Mr. Yasir Ahmed presented the Key-Note Address on behalf of Mr. Asim Shehriyar CEO IGNITE. Amongst others Dr. Akbar Gardezi from COMSATS Islamabad, Mr. Ahmed Karim, Mr. Kamal Yousuf, Mr. Shahbaz from Faisalabad and others through question and answers.
Mr. Yasir highlighted the new proposal of Urdu Talking software being started to develop instead of incomplete rather failure project of naghma at UET Lahore. Mr. Awan while expressing concern about the delay in development of Urdu talking software, expressed the policy of the ministry to pay equal attention to the requirements of disabled community with special weightage because of urgency of the need of Urdu talking software, representative of the consumers like Ahmed Karim, Kamal Yousuf and Mr. Shahbaz seriously highlighted the importance and urgency of the Urdu talking software by quoting practical examples and existence of other optional including google and otherwise .
The 3rd business session at 11:30am on 5th august Presided over by Dr. Anwar Khattab Head of the Civil Engineering Technology MUST while Dr. Sana Shaukat from AJK University Muzaffarabad, Dr. Tasneem from MIT Department and Dr. Anzer Quraishi from MUST Mirpur, developed software for the Visually Impaired.
4th Business Session: Prevailing problems and requirements of the disabled community in my opinion.
The session was presided over by Mr. Shahid Ahmed Memon. Following were the speakers of the session. Mr. Abdul Manan from Islamabad, Mr. Amir Ashraf from Lahore, Ilyas from Mirpur AJK, Shehzad Javaid from Rawalpindi, Kamal Yousuf from Peshawar, Dr. Shagufta Iqbal from Quetta, Mr. Abdullah Zubair from Hyderabad, Abdullah Zafer from Islamabad, Hafiz Owais from Multan, Mr. Arqum Mehmood from Gujrat and Waqas Ramzan from Rawalpindi.
Fifth Business Session: Panel Discussion on issues of tax free mobile and Urdu talking software for the blind.
Presided over by Ajmal Awan Member International Coordination Ministry of Information Technology while Mr. Shahid Memon facilitated the session as the moderator. Mr. Yasir Ahmed Manager SEED Ignite, Dr. Akber Gardezi from Comsats Islamabad, Dr. Shagufta Iqbal from Quetta, Prof. Ilyas Ayub principal AKAB from Mirpur and Ahmed Karim from Faisalabad took part in the discussion on above said topic.
6th business session on 6th August was presided over by Dean Civil Engineering Technology Department MUST Prof. Dr. Hasan Mujtaba Jafri while Dr. Rabia Rayaz Head of the Computer Science Department AJK University Muzafferabad, (Rtd) Major Riyaz Alam and Mr. Raja Shoaib Hussain Secretary Red Crescent AJK grace the occasion as Honoured guest. Mr. Memon Chairman PDF in his Welcome Address highlighted the activities in short and summarize the whole conference session wise. Amongst others Mr. Ahmed Kareem, Shahbaz Ahmed and Mr., Kamal Yousuf express their views on different aspects of the theme of the conference
The conference was concluded at distribution ceremony. Chairman PDF awarded the religious based token of Hadia aqeedat as per tradition of PDF to Mr. Hasan Mujtaba Jafri. The president AKAB awarded shield of Honour to Dean Mr. Hasan Mujtaba Jafri, Mr. Shahid Ahmed Memon, Dr. Shagufta Iqbal, Dr. Rabia Raiz. The dedicated youth of Society of Civil Engineering Technology MUST were awarded special appreciation shield and certificates for the valuable services provided voluntarily throughout the conference. Mr. Hafiz Owais, Mr. Junaid and Miss Mishal were also given token of appreciation.
