ISLAMABAD, JUN 29 (DNA) – Expressing strong resolve for addressing vital social issues, President Dr. Arif Alvi said that his office will continue to play its constitutional role for bringing social change in the country.

Issues such as malnutrition, infant mortality, population growth, and women’s right to inheritance need to be addressed in a more prudent manner to get the desired results in the shortest possible time, he added.

The President said this while talking to a delegation of APNS Executive Committee, who called on him at Aiwan-i-Sadr, Islamabad last night.

SAPM on Information and Broadcasting Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan was also present on the occasion.

Talking about the role of media and its importance, the President said that media had a very important role to play in connecting, informing, and educating people for the common cause of national development and social change.

However, he cautioned that extra care was required to combat the emerging threat of fake news, which, he added, had traces in history that led to disastrous consequences. In recent years, fake news have gained momentum and dented the credibility of news, he added.

Talking about the importance of emerging technologies and its usages, The President said that unless a nation was equipped with modern technologies including the emerging concept of artificial intelligence, dream of becoming a progressive and developed country could not be achieved.

He expressed his gratitude to media community for their support on his initiative on artificial intelligence which, he added, would bring sea-change in the overall thinking pattern of researchers and scientists.

He also mentioned that his initiative of artificial intelligence had gained significant success in Karachi and keeping in mind the need to further spread it to other parts of the country, the same program had also been launched in Islamabad and Faisalabad.

Talking about his recent meeting with the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, the President said that it was a very fruitful meeting that entails a lot of hopes for bringing peace in the region and Pakistan would fully support peace process in Afghanistan and actively contribute for its rebuilding.

Earlier SAPM on Information and Broadcasting Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan said that the guidance and the patronage of the President Dr. Arif Alvi had always been very encouraging, which augurs well for the development of media in Pakistan.

APNS delegation expressed their gratitude to President Dr. Arif Alvi for his constant support to the media community in the country.

It was the responsibility of the media community to fact-check news for accuracy before disseminating it to curb the trend of fake news, they elaborated.=DNA

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