The Pakistan Repatriation Council (PRC) on Tuesday urged Islamabad to establish a nuclear research university headed by Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan to explore peaceful purposes of nuclear technology.

The university will help explore the production of electricity, medicine and agriculture through nuclear technology to boost economy, it said while passing resolutions during a function here to observe Pakistan’s Youm-e-Takbeer (Day of Greatness) which is observed as a national day in Pakistan.

Youm-e-Takbeer was held to discuss “Nuclear Technology — our need and obligation” on the occasion of the 16th anniversary of the day when Pakistan detonated its first nuclear device on May 28, 1998 in response to India’s nuclear test in the same month.

In his presidential address, Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi, a former Saudi diplomat, congratulated the PRC on holding a symposium on Youm-e-Takbeer, which he said is not only a day of pride for Pakistanis, but also for all the Muslims in the world, as Pakistan is the only Islamic state to acquire such a technology.

“It was crucial for Pakistan to have atomic energy to act as a deterrent,” Al-Ghamdi said and praised all those who had contributed to the achievement of this strategic goal.

Al-Ghamdi appealed to Prime Minister Sharif to secure the rights of Pakistanis languishing in Bangladeshi camps.

“It is their primary right to be repatriated and rehabilitated in Pakistan as soon as possible,” he said.

Syed Ehsanul Haque, the PRC convener in his speech, said acquiring the nuclear deterrent was also essential for Pakistan’s geo-strategic interests. Haque said that about a quarter million “patriotic Pakistanis” were languishing in Bangladeshi camps and urged the media to play its role with greater responsibility.

The PRC, on the occasion, hailed Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to India to meet the new Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the latter’s swearing-in ceremony.

The PRC convener hoped the Sharif-Modi meeting would bring peace in the region and both countries could concentrate on serving their peoples.

In its resolutions later, the PRC demanded an early solution to the Kashmir issue and the problems facing stranded Pakistanis in Bangladeshi camps.

The guests of honor and speakers included Irfan Hashmi, president, Majlize Iqbal of Urdu Markaz, Azeez Ahmed, secretary general, Pakistan Engineers Society, Maqboolur Rahman Abbasi, Pakistan Journalists Forum, Tayyab Mosani, secretary general, Pakistan Memon Association, Eliyas Meher and Mohammad Akram Agha of the Pakistan Peoples Community. Social and business community members such as Sheikh Mohammad Luqman, Shamsuddin Altaf, journalists Mohammad Amanatullah and Syed Musarrat Khalil were also present.

Abdul Qayyum, the secretary general of PRC, conducted the program.