RIYADH, 12 June 2007 — The Pakistan Writers Club, Riyadh, held a function here recently to commemorate the UN World Environment Day. The chief guest was Dr. Syed Kumail Jafri — an environmentalist and head of the Department of Health and Safety at King Abdul Aziz Medical City, Riyadh.
The PWC adopted a 10-point resolution calling on the government of Pakistan to take environment issues seriously and devise plans to engage its citizens, especially school students for creating awareness among the people on the subject.
PWC General Secretary Abdur Rauf Moghul spoke about the significance of the World Environment Day. He said the mass of ice in the polar region was expected to decline by a quarter by 2100.
Syed Nehal Uddin, PWC’s secretary information and planning presented a poem dealing with environment issues that won great applause. Syed Bashir Ahmed, vice president, finance and multimedia, spoke about ozone depletion followed by the rendering of a poem by PWC’s vice president Choudhry Rehmat Ali. Ali’s poetry focused on the village life in Pakistan.
It depicted the sufferings of the people due to environment degradation, rapid urbanization and industrialization. Sajjad Saleem — community relations secretary spoke about pollution focusing on the social evils and injustices back home, which he described as “social pollutions.
Naeem Awan, joint secretary, spoke about global warming. He also amused the audience with his poems on global warming, both in Urdu and English.
Omair Salman Jafri, a business student from Yamama University, Riyadh spoke on technological advancement and global warming. He dealt with the technological wastes worldwide. Club’s Senior Vice President Sanobar Sani enthralled the audience with his poetry that focused on the current environment issues.
The president of the club, Faiz Al-Najdi, said in Pakistan water scarcity due to climate change, deforestation, water and air pollution, coastal and marine degradation and loss of bio-diversity and some of the problems affecting the environment.
