Delegates of the future: Four days of brainstorming come to an end amid cheer and applause

Award for the overall best delegation went to the team from Lyceum School.

KARACHI: The closing ceremony of the Model United Nations at the Institute of Business Administration (Munik) was an affair of accolade and fervor - 1,150 delegates from 110 schools celebrated the end of four days of meetings where they took on current affairs challenges and draft resolutions.

Awards were distributed among best performing participants and teams who were divided into the 18 United Nations committees and organisations. Award for the overall best delegation went to the team from The Lyceum School while most of the other best delegate awards went to students of the Nixor College, followed by Karachi Grammar School. “These students are our future - see the kind of promise that Pakistan has,” said the head of social sciences at IBA, Dr Huma Baqai, who was also the chief guest. Dr Baqai asked the participants to give themselves a round of applause because in her opinion, they were the stars of the show.

“The last four days have been very eventful for the institution,” said IBA Registrar Capt (retired) Ahmed Zaheer. “Apart from providing a platform to foster dialogue on such a large scale, this was a wonderful opportunity for us to showcase the facilities available to students at the institution.”



He lauded the students for taking part in the events. “I’m glad they did not miss this wonderful opportunity of networking,” he remarked.

Insight into Pakistan

“It is quite unfair on part of the international community to associate Pakistan with terrorism,” said Hong Kong’s Coleman Tse, who was heading the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees. This was his second consecutive participation at Munik.

Tse said that he was quite amazed by the vibrancy in Pakistani youth. “They are so passionate in whatever they do.”

The Netherlands’ Sam Klopper, who had been put in charge of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, was in complete agreement. “I have not seen such dedicated delegates in any other conference I have participated in,” he said.

There is more to Pakistan than terrorism and drone attacks which are all we hear in the media, opined Klopper. “The country is completely different from what is portrayed - there hasn’t been a single moment that I felt unsafe here.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd, 2013.