FDS holds Tetra Lingual Declamation Contest 2013
Forman Christian College has become one of the institutions fore-front of the debating circuit around Pakistan. Delivering up to the expectation, they have hosted debating competitions of a commendable magnitude.
This year under the banner of FDC’13, Forman Debating Society hosted an oratory event of a wide scale that was intended to encompass a diverse array of various competitions where the debaters could come together at a platform and prove their skills of eloquence.
The fourth annual Tetra Lingual Declamation Contest was held from 11 to 15 February 2013 at Forman Christian College. It was huge debating gala as a total number of 82 speakers participated from all around Pakistan. A tetra-lingual declamation allowed the participants to choose from Urdu, English, Punjabi and Pushto as their language of debate. Certainly, this debating gala celebrated the ethical diversity of Pakistan!
Debaters from across the country participated enthusiastically in FDC’13. Pushto speakers attended the championship all the way from Faisalabad, Quetta, Kashmir, Multan and Karachi. The hosts of the event were glad to see the fervor from our neighboring province, as it was for the first time that Balochistan participated with 6 record teams.
The prestigious outstation institutions which made it a successful event included Bahauddin Zakriya University, Mirpur University Kashmir, Iqra University Quetta, Balochistan University, Karachi University, Hamdard University Karachi Government College University Faisalabad, UET Faisalabad, UET Taxilla, Gomal University DI Khan and many more.
The local teams included Lahore College for Women, UET Lahore, Government College University Lahore, Punjab University Lahore,Kinnaird College and University of Management and Technology.
The debates in the regional languages like Punjabi and Pashto resonated to the audience as the declamations in Urdu and English did. The turnout was impressive, 12 speakers for Pushto and 15 speakers for Punjabi made the event a bigger success. The topics were categorized into Serious and Humorous to make the debate enjoyable for the audience and to add flavors to the debate so it wasn’t monotonous.
After hectic sessions of quality debate and tough competition, the winners were recognized with a huge round of applause and accolades which would always make their visit to FCC memorable.
The Team Trophy for Declamation was won by Government University Lahore.
The individual prize was won in English by UET Taxilla (Abdul Wahab), while the Second Prize went to Noor Rul Murtaza and Third prize to Ahmad Chaudhry from Government University Lahore. The consolation prize went to Seena Farooqi from Iqra University
The first prize in Urdu went to Awais Mallik, Government College Lahore. The Second Prize was won by Talat Rehman Iqra University Quetta and Third by Wahab Ahmad, Punjab University Lahore. The consolation prize was won by Umer Asghar Pasha, from GCU Faisalabad.
Parliamentary form of debate was equally successful. It started from the evening of 12 February and lasted till 15 February. 52 teams of highly esteemed institutions around Pakistan participated in the debate. The clash of intellectual arguments from both government and opposition resulted in an ignited debate through all rounds. The final match was held between King Edward Medical University and Government College University for Urdu. In English, LSE encountered GCU at their final contest at FDC’13.
The closing ceremony of the parliamentary style of debates was made even more auspicious by our worthy Chief Guest, Mr Aitzaz Ahsan. He has remained an integral part of Pakistan’s politics for years. Being a law graduate from the University of Cambridge, he played an important role in the legislative sector. Currently he is serving as a Senator.
When he was invited up on the stage, an intellectual and articulated speech was well anticipated by the audience. He acknowledged the recitation of Bible after the recitation of Holy Quran. He admired this act of FCC as an attempt of accepting plurality of our society. He reiterated the idea of Pakistan being a mosaic of different identities and he said that we have to live in harmony. He also emphasized the need for inter-faith harmony, instead of promoting conflicts. He admired the role of the FCC in this regard as it is promoting a culture of harmony by accepting and celebrating diversity.
Talking of gender equality, he was glad to see that the president and vice president of Formanite Debating Society were both girls. He was delighted to see the girls who were confident and who stood proud as the future guardians of the country.
Commenting on the debate, he talked about the style of debate that was adopted by the finalists at FDC’13. He said the speakers bombarded the facts and spoke hastily. He pointed some flaws out and he said that the debaters should have focused on fewer facts (lines of argument) and elaborated them more.
He was impressed at the standards the declamation and debating championship has set and the way the debating society is working to further improve and develop the art of elocution among the students of not only FCC or institutions in Lahore but also across Pakistan. Highlighting a part from the debate on the topic of “Should people with dual nationality be allowed to be a parliamentarian”, he said that we do not need 100% Pakistanis in politics but that we need patriots who are loyal toPakistanin every field of work if we want our country to prosper.
Being an old Ravian (student of GCU), he said lightly that he was supporting GCU, however their debate was less effective as compared to KE. He aided his idea by using a couplet:
“Hain daleelein tere khilaaf magar
Sochta hon teri himaayat mein”
However, KE was declared the winner of the debate. He distributed the prizes among the winning team, the runners up and the members of FDS who worked diligently for making FDC’13 a possibility. The English debate was won by Lahore School of Economics against Government College Lahore, University. The topic for final debate was “This house believes that social movements in democratic countries should be through courts and not legislature.”
The panel of judges was the proud alumni of the college who had won national and international acclaim in the field of debate and declamation. The accolade was bestowed to the winners of Urdu and English parliamentary Debate, whose opinions were rational and arguments were in harmony with their respective stance. All in all, the event was a roaring success and made a standard for the others to follow. The 5-day debating event, FDC’13 ended successfully with all the teams performing in sync under the event’s slogan; “Questioning Logic”.