Iqra University Model United Nations (IUMUN) 2013 – A TIMELESS TRAVERSING

by Fozan Ghalib on October 5, 2013

The following recap was provided by Sarah Fahim the Director Media & Publications and Imaduddin Siddiqui the IUMUN Conference Advisor.

Time seems to lose meaning when you have your heart set to reach a destination. Every moment, every fraction of each second presents you with a new challenge to accept, a new chore to fill. Every adversity, no matter how trivial or significant, acts like little pebbles beneath the feet along the winding roads of the journey.

Iqra University Model United Nations was a journey of such sort. Being among the most distinguished Model United Nations Conferences in Pakistan, IUMUN’13 offered a palette of vibrant innovations and diversities. The traversing began four months ago, and since then, the Executive Council and the Team; IUMUN’13 has never looked back. Be it the President, Shabbar Muhammad Virani; or the conference adviser, Imaduddin Siddiqui; every effort has one centre. Be it the Secretary General, Hasan Aqeel Puri; the Director General, Hammad Qaiser; all their focus was at one convergence. Be it the Deputy Secretary General, Arsalan Moten; or the Executive Director Marketing, Muhammad Umar Muzaffar; every mind forged onward to make IUMUN’13 an existent reality.

The conference commenced on an exciting, expectant and exhilarating note on Wednesday, August 28^th, 2013, at Iqra University, Main Campus, Karachi. With the Chief Guest for the opening ceremony, Brigadier Waqar Mir, who graced the audience with his presence and insightful words, the conference officially began and welcomed the diverse assembly of 450 Secretariat members and delegates of the conference, who had converged from a panorama of academic institutions including The Lyceum School, PAF-KIET, Nixor College, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Institute of Business Administration, Karachi and many more, along with all the campuses of Iqra University, Pakistan.

What was IUMUN’13 about? – the days of raging debate, the opening up of new horizons of thought and the hours of putting the young, strategic minds to task inside the eloquent and inventive committees that IUMUN’13 had schemed. Ranging from DISEC, ECOSOC, SOCHUM and SPECPOL, to the inventive Generals’ Committee (a simulation featuring the army generals of the world’s nations); from the immersing, bilingual flow at Pakistan National Security Council, the fiery debate at the United Nations General Assembly – High Level Meeting featuring the heads of the states and the much-looked-forward-to joint-crisis session amongst NATO and the League of Arab States, to the sparkle of colloquy with the delegates duos at the United Nations Security Council – IUMUN’13 was no less than a redefinition.

The captivating IUMUN Theatrics’ Dusk took place on the fine evening of Friday, August 30^th, 2013 at the Arts Council, Karachi. The event featured Anwar Maqsood’s theatrical play, Sawa 14 August that was bound to have left an embossed mark on the memory of the audience. These insightful minds further shook off the dust of a-day-long thought procedures on August 31^st, 2013, Saturday, at The Oasis Club, Karachi. The evening presented them with an absorbing opportunity to live up the dance floor, themed Static House.

This grand symposium called its wrap-up at the evening of Sunday, September 1^st, 2013. The chief guests that honored the formal wind-up gathering of IUMUN’13 with their presence were Mr. Ansar Burney, Chairman – Ansar Burney Trust, and Mr. Faisal Wawda, the real estate tycoon. Both the chief guests were kind enough to say a few, influential words to guide and inspire the youth present there – the future and gems of Pakistan. The chief guests also graced the award citation, conveying the ‘Best Delegation of the Conference’ award to the young ambitions (calling them mere students is an understatement) of PAF-Karachi Institute of Economics and Technology.

A journey ends and the waves of time disperse at the shores of a halt for just one reason – only so that the venture can begin once again; only so that, the breezes of time may whisper new ballads of willingness and experiences as they pass by you.