NDS XVII FORTNIGHT DEBATES
NUST Debating Society is one of the top tier societies of NUST, making sure that an excellent standard of debating is maintained amongst the youth by bringing together eloquent and resonant debaters on stage from NUST and all over Pakistan. Fortnight Debates are the leading legacy of NDS. With over seventeen sessions now, it has proved that the Fortnight Debates are an event to behold and worth waiting for.
The seventeenth Fortnight Debates were held on 25th March 30, 2019, in SEECS Seminar Hall. The topic of the debate was ‘War or No War’ in light of the recent military tensions between India and Pakistan regarding the skirmishes at the conflicted Kashmir border. There were two teams, with four members each; where one was the proposition team and one was the opposition team. Pakistan and India have never been fortunate enough to be good neighbors, and all attempts to reconcile and negotiate have more or less failed.
NDS carried out a poll in C1 a few days prior to the event and asked people about their opinions on whether a war should take place between Pakistan and India or not, in an attempt to gather people’s attention for the event and measure their worthy to note views on the heated topic. Most of the students were in the favor of a ‘No War’ option, which was expected, to say the least.
The event started at 3 p.m. The participants were very enthusiastic and were discussing points with respect their stance. Since the event had followed 23rd March, Pakistan Resolution, two videos were shown to the participants, compiled by NDS member Abdullah Akhtar, in which a few people were singing patriotic songs. The debates started soon afterwards. Every debater was allotted 6-7 minutes to speak and present their views. The debate lasted for approximately 45 minutes, with heated arguments, confident rebuts, and dramatic statement thrown from each side.
The host team distributed orange and green chits between the audience, orange for the opposition team and green for proposition team. They were asked to vote at the end whether they believed that opposition (orange) spoke better or whether proposition (green) did. The usher handed around a ballet box in which the audience casted their votes in. The chits were counted at the end, and it was found out that the opposition team had won, consisting of Usama Shahid and Arsalan Saqib. There was another addition of award this time for the event and it was ‘The Best Speaker’ Award. The adjudicators and the society president, Maria Shuja, decided that the said award should be given to Hamza Ahmed from SNS.
For the first time ever, the seventeenth Fortnight Debates handed out silver shields to the winners. This was a very exciting moment for the victors, as this fueled their motivation to participate with even more fervor in the next sessions as well. All the participants were given certificates to boost up their morale. In the end, the host team had a moment for themselves, celebrating their success. There moment was made much more memorable with the presence of NDS’ former president Fahad Ali Syed.  The Fortnight Debates were a success overall.
