First Lady Samina Alvi has urged the women to play their role in eradicating extremism from society.
Addressing a book introductory session of a conference titled “Dukhtaran-e-Pakistan in peace building and harmonization of society” organized by International Islamic University (IIU) on Wednesday, she said women have an important role in nation building.
The First Lady said Islam has provided equal opportunities to women. She said development of a society is unachievable without participation of women. Samina Alvi said it is our responsibility to portray Pakistan as a peace loving country. She stressed that the women should be economically independent to achieve the goals.
Talking about breast cancer awareness, she said one woman dies in every fifteen minutes due to breast cancer in Pakistan. She said breast cancer diagnosed at early stage is curable. She hailed efforts of IIUI females for Dukhtran e Pakistan, saying that the narrative has showed the world that Pakistani women are envoys of peace.
The session was aslso addressed by IIUI Rector Dr. Masoon Yasinzai said that Paigham e Pakistan narrative has been hailed across the word and IIUI has put all its efforts to prepare and disseminate message of peace. He said women have power to change the fate of Muslim world. He said 16 thousand female students of IIUI will work as envoys of Paigham e Pakistan and they will be taking Islam’s message of peace and harmony in every corner of world. He urged the youth to take guidance from Holy Quran and apply its teachings in the practical life. He also hailed Prime Minister’s speech in UNGA saying that he represented every Muslim on the topic of Islamophobia.
Dr. Ahmed Yousif Al-Drawieesh discussed importance of peace and teachings of Islam. He said that peace is akin to oxygen to a society. He added that Islam is religion of peace, it discourages extremism and violence. He said that educational institutions and religious seminaries are vital places as they can effectively train the youth to counter extremism in the society. He elaborated role of women in Islamic history and correlated the examples to the contemporary requirements, adding that mothers are the best teachers and mind builders who can nurture children to fight the menace of terrorism in future.
Dr. Farkhanda Zia, Vice President, Female Campus, IIUI apprised the audience about the topics and chapters of the book. She said the book Dukhtran e Pakistan is an effort to counter extremism. She also briefed about aims and objectives of the conference. She hoped that deliberations of the conference will work as shield to fight terrorism and build a peaceful society. She stressed upon women to play active role in defeating violence and asked them to be contributors for building a harmonized and sustainable society. Dr. Farkhanda said that wome from all walks of life have endorsed the narrative saying that extremism and violence have no place in Islam and Pakistani society.
The session was also attended by IIUI Vice Presidents, Deans, DGs, Directors, faculty members and other scholars.
The conference was organized by IIUI’s female campus and Iqbal International Institute of Research and Dialogue (IRD) in collaboration with Council of Islamic Ideology (CII).