Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR), held a special interaction with students and faculty of Fatima Jinnah Women University in Rawalpindi on Wednesday, providing an opportunity for direct discussion on national affairs, security issues and the challenges posed by misinformation.
The interaction, held on September 30, featured a live question-and-answer session in which students raised questions and sought clarification on issues of national importance.
The session also provided students an opportunity to hear directly from a senior national institution and develop a clearer understanding of national and security affairs, according to the participants.
Fatima Jinnah Women University Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Bushra Mirza highlighted the broader role of education, saying that educating a woman was essentially educating a generation.
She said education should not remain limited to curricular knowledge, but should also prepare students to understand ground realities and engage with the challenges facing society.
Faculty members stressed the importance of direct dialogue in addressing misinformation and disinformation, saying interaction with national institutions could help students distinguish facts from misleading narratives and understand different perspectives.
The participants also discussed the growing role of artificial intelligence in the information environment.
Students pointed out that AI-generated content could be used to produce and circulate false or misleading information, making verification increasingly important before sharing material online.
They emphasized the need to check information through authentic and credible sources rather than forwarding unverified content through social media and other digital platforms.
The discussion also focused on information warfare and the importance of critical thinking, fact-checking and access to authentic information in countering misleading narratives.
Faculty members described direct engagement between academia and national institutions as an important means of helping students develop a more informed understanding of national and security matters.
Students said the question-and-answer session allowed them to view national and security affairs from perspectives they might not encounter through conventional classroom learning.
They also called for the continuation of such interactive sessions, saying regular dialogue could provide young people with opportunities to ask questions directly, clarify misconceptions and better understand developments affecting the country.
The interaction formed part of broader efforts to strengthen engagement between educational institutions and national stakeholders, particularly on the challenges posed by the rapidly changing information environment.
