PM to distribute prizes of letter competition on Quaid: Tariq
By Bushra Makhdoom

ISLAMABAD—Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will distribute prizes among the winners of letter competition on “Quaid Tujhay Mera Salam” on September 11, the day the nation will observe the death anniversary of the Quaid-e-Azam.This was stated by Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Tariq Azeem while talking to media persons here on Friday.
Chairman Pakistan Academy of Letters Iftikhar Arif,Chairman National Language Authority Professor Fateh Muhammad Malik and Prof Riaz who formed the panel of judges were also present on the occasion. Advisor to Prime Minister on Information Mehreen Khan also attended the briefing. The Minister said that the letter competition was organized by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting under Pakistan Image Programme.
The Minister said that a total of 30,000 letters were received from people of 6 to 86 years of age from throughout the country. However 24,463 letters were considered for competition as the rest of the letters were received after the fixed date, he added.
He said that first winner of the competition would be given a Honda Vti car while the first and second runners up would get Rs. 2,00,000 and Rs 1,00,000 respectively. The Minister said that people from all walks of life including children, women and minorities took part in the competition. Representation of women remained 65 per cent while letters received from villages and small cities were 60 percent,he added.
Tariq Azeem said that the people have a lot of love and respect for the founding father and Pakistan and passion of the people can be judged from the fact that some of the participants wrote letters with their blood.
The response from the people was very much encouraging as majority of the letters were in decorated form and were written with great love and regard, he added. The Minister said that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting would publish the selected letters in a book form and Chairman Pakistan Academy of Letters Iftikhar Arif would supervise the task. Speaking on the occasion,Iftikhar Arif said that it was very difficult to judge the winners of the competition as majority of the letters were written with great passion and sincerity. He said that people have great passion for the country and its founding fathers but it has not been properly highlighted in the past.
Chairman Pakistan Language Authority, Prof. Fateh Mohammad Malik said that most of the contribution in the competition was made by the lower and middle class. Dr.Riaz said that media should highlight positive image of the country and society.
Mehreen Aziz Khan, Advisor to Prime Minister on Information said that there was a common trend to highlight pessimistic things. It was a positive step to highlight the optimistic side of the society,she added.