Punjab provides 100pc scholarships to minority students, says CM Usman Buzdar

LAHORE:Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on Tuesday said the Punjab government was providing 100 percent scholarships to students of minority communities from Matric to PhD in government institutions.

He expressed these views while distributing scholarship cheques among minority students at a ceremony at his office. The chief minister said that 2 percent quota was allocated in higher education institutions along with 5 percent job quota to minority communities. On the other side, a sum of Rs50 million was allocated for educational scholarship scheme for non-Muslim students and Rs25 million were given through PEEF while the remaining amount was provided through the department concerned as stipends. The CM stated that 50 percent of the scholarships was earmarked for central Punjab, 35 percent for southern Punjab and share of northern Punjab students was 15 percent, adding that non-Muslim students were given scholarships ranging from Rs15,000 to 50,000 from Matric to higher studies.

Our correspondent adds: Usman Buzdar has sought a report from RPO Sargodha about rape and murder of a 9-year old girl in Sargodha and directed police to arrest the criminals at the earliest.

Na’atia Mushaira: Usman Buzdar, ministers, parliamentarians and senior officials attended Na'atia Mushaira held under the aegis of information and culture department at Chief Minister’s Office Tuesday.

On the occasion, poets paid their poetic tributes to Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in different languages. Shujaat Hashmi presented Kalam-e-Iqbal and its English and French translations were also presented. Zaheer Abbas Bilali and his associates presented Qaseeda Burda Shareef while the Na'atia Mushaira was chaired by Dr Munawar Hashmi. Amjad Islam Amjad, Hameeda Shaheen, Abbas Tabish, Ayub Khawar, Zahid Fakhri, Bismal Sabri, Farhat Abbas Shah, Khuda Bakhsh, Nasir Ali Syed, Aseer Mengal, Noor Rizvi and Iqbal Sokri paid their tributes. The CM welcomed the holding of the event.