State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib on Friday said that the government was contemplating launching countrywide sports activities to encourage youngsters to participate in healthy sports activities.
Speaking at a programme organized here by Rawalpindi/Islamabad Sports Journalists Association in connection with the World Sports Journalists Day observed today(Friday), he said relevant ministries in consultation with provinces were working on the plan to launch sports activities.
He said the sports coverage in newspapers and TV channels should be increased, enabling the sports journalists to get their due share in the air-time of the channel. The world admires Prime Minister Imran Khan as a top legend of the world of sports and the country’s youth idealized the PM as an ideal personality of the youth.
The issues of journalists would be resolved, he said, adding the PM and his team were well aware of the problems of journalists and its resolution was the priority of the government.
Speaking on the occasion, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Political Communication, Shahbaz Gill recalled that during the Zia ul Haq era, there were a lot of sports news as no politics was going on in those days.
“At that time Prime Minister Imran Khan was playing cricket and we won World Cups not only in cricket but in hockey, snooker and squash. It was a golden era for sports and sports journalism,” he said.
He said with the flourishing sports activities, the sports journalists will also prosper. “Like the Pakistan Super League (PSL), we should also hold hockey and boxing leagues as PSL was booming all over,” he said.
Gill said Pakistan has the second highest younger population in the world which is why sports is very important for our nation. “If we won’t bring that youth towards sports then they will indulge themselves in some other activities which are harmful for the society,” he said.
