Mukherjee, Karzai to attend varsity convocation in Jalandhar

President Pranab Mukherjee will confer the first honoris causa degree of the Lovely Professional University (LPU) to Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai at the varsity's convocation to be held in this Punjab city Monday (May 20), a varsity official said.

LPU Chancellor Ashok Mittal said: "President Pranab Mukherjee will be the chief guest at the convocation. It is one of the rare occasions as the president of another country, Afghanistan, would also be present."

"Hamid Karzai, president of Afghanistan, would be receiving university's first Honoris Causa degree. He would be receiving this degree for his outstanding work in the area of social upliftment of the country," he added.

A total of 8,501 degrees will be conferred by LPU, a leading private university in Punjab with nearly 30,000 on-campus students, including scores of students from other countries.

Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal will also be present at the convocation, he said.

With the two presidents coming for the same event, tight security measures are being put into place by the local authorities and the Punjab Police. Central security agencies and state police are already camping here to ensure fool-proof security arrangements.