Pakistan Army and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif were given the Istanbul Special Islamic Award for demonstrating leadership in the struggle against terrorism with clarity, commitment and courage.
“The Islamic World Istanbul Awards”, were given this year for the first time, in order to promote and honour the successful people and institutions which are showing excellence and professionalism in their respective fields in the Islamic World.
The award ceremony was held at the Islamabad Serena Hotel during the 6th Islamic Think Tanks Forum where President Mamnoon Hussain was the chief guest.
While addressing the 6th Tank Tanks Forum of Islamic Countries, Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz said that out of the many challenges that the Muslim countries face, the issue of intellectual development is of critical importance. He delivered the keynote address.
On the second day of the conference, Sartaj Aziz stressed that the Muslim world faces common challenges, thus they must work in collaboration with each other to overcome these challenges. He further added that it is time that Muslims build resilient scientific, intellectual and academic partnerships with the rest of the world.
Addressing the conference, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed said, “The best brains from across the Muslim world have gathered here to discuss the various issues that the Muslim world faces today.”
“The issues being discussed at this forum may be specific to the Muslim world, but to deal with them it is necessary to build coalitions and partnerships collaborate with other nations, religious communities and regions too.”
He also announced that the Think-Tanks Forum for Islamic countries would now be renamed as the ‘World Islamic Forum’, with its international secretariat in Istanbul and Asian regional secretariat in Islamabad, to be hosted by Pakistan-China Institute.
The sessions that followed, discussed Non-Traditional Security Threats in Muslim Countries where the speakers examined the issues in great detail and put forth their suggestions to deal with the challenges. They stressed that multilateral cooperation among all Muslim countries is of utmost importance and issues such as terrorism, climate change and human trafficking must be dealt with seriously. The speakers further discussed the opportunities and risks in the defence and space industry and cooperation for nuclear proliferation.
The 6th Think Tank Forum of the Islamic Countries also issued the ‘Islamabad Declaration to mark the conclusion of the conference. The forum reiterated its resolve to institutionalize the ‘World Islamic Forum’ as the voice of Muslim intellectuals, opinion leaders and thinkers.
The forum would also hold a ‘Muslim Women’s Summit in Kuala Lumpur in September 2015, while the next WIF will be hosted by Iran. In addition, a permanent Steering Committee was established to prepare an ‘Action Plan’ for the WIF, which will include Senator Mushahid Hussain and Chairman of TASAM, Suleyman Sensoy.
Muslim leaders are in the habit of talking too much about muslim world and very little action in trying to put own house in order
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