RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Arts Council (RAC) on Thursday arranged a national song writing competition on the request of the Punjab government.

Poets Naseem-e-Saher, Farkhanda Shamim and Aftab Zia were invited as judges for the competition while Fauzia Kausar was the anchor for the event. Twenty-eight young poets from 14 schools and colleges of Rawalpindi and Islamabad participated in the competition.

The first prize was given to Zunalra Butt of Government College for Women Tench Bhatta, Umair Khazeem from the Punjab College of Information Technology (PCIT) secured the second position, Sadia Amjad from the Government College for Women Zafarul Haq Road won the third prize while Kalsoom Bibi from Government College for Women Daultala and Shahab Hussain from PCIT were awarded the fourth position.

Renowned poet Sarfraz Shahid, while addressing the guests at the event, discussed society and religion.

He said Islam was not radical, theproblem lay with the society.

He said the young poets who presented their work had expressed solidarity with the country using beautiful words. Former RAC director Naheed Manzoor talked about the human rights problems in the country and said lack of tolerance and respect for each other is the main reason for the worsening human rights situation in the country.

She said intolerance was on the rise in the world today resulting in violence, religious persecution as well as confrontation on dif ferent levels.

RAC Resident Director Waqar Ahmed said all institutions were struggling to promote tolerance in the society. He said the government was effectively implementing the national action plan on terrorism.

Senior poets Naseem-e-Saher, Farkhanda Shamim and Aftab Zia also recited their poetry.

Sarfraz Shahid and Resident Director Waqar Ahmed distributed awards, cash prizes and participation certificates among participants. A Reporter