In four days, DALMUN delegates find a solution to the Syrian conflict

Dawood Public School holds its first Model United Nations.

KARACHI: At their first Model United Nations (MUN), the students of Dawood Public School proved they are second to none.

At the four-day academic simulation titled Dawood A’ Levels Model United Nations (Dalmun) kicked off on February 3, and around 120 delegates engaged in heated debates over issues ranging from sustainability in African economies to the Afghan pullout and the Syrian conflict. The participants arrived from 10 institutions including, The City School, Beaconhouse School System, Nixor College, BVS Parsi High School and Happy Home

At the vast A’ levels campus of the girls-only school, students of both genders were enthusiastically working on drafting resolutions with their peers in their classrooms turned into committee rooms.  “If we study at a girls-only school, this should not mean that people look down on us or our abilities,” said Dalmun director-general Iqra Jalal Akbar.



Iqra admitted that it was hard for girls to look for sponsors, make frantic phone calls and send scores of emails, but it was worth it in so many ways. “In the face of all obstacles we stood by and decided we won’t move back,” she said. “On our visit to the DHA Public School, the principal was so happy to see us girls taking over everything that he agreed to not only send the delegates but also promised his visit.”

To hype up their first such initiative, students from the school went out to other academic institutions with their self-prepared flyers, banners and CDs carrying presentations about the event, said the Dalmun president, Anamta Rafique Ghur, who led her team of 30 members. “Amid intermittent pangs of stress and wails of “ye nahi ho raha, woh nahi ho raha” [this is not happening, that is not happening], there was always this sense of satisfaction that we have pioneered Dalmun as an addition to the list of MUNs held across the world.”

Realising the need to address the issues of depleting resources of the world, the Dalmun team decided to keep “sustainability” as the theme for the conference. “As the youth of today, and the pioneers of tomorrow, we must play our part in ensuring the conservation of the resources that we have before they vanish from the face of the earth,” Anamta explained.

The chair of the UN Security Council, Talha Khan who studies at Szabist, told The Express Tribune that his committee had came up with the resolution on the Syrian conflict that upcoming elections should be held under the supervision of UN peacekeeping forces.

“By these resolutions, we youngsters, who are the future of this world, are giving out a message to our government and global players that this is what we think should happen,” said Talha.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 6^th, 2013.