‘IS can be defeated through joint efforts by global powers’

Speakers at the opening of a two-day international conference were unanimous in their views that the ‘IS phenomena’ would only be defeated through the joint efforts of the global powers.

The conference, which is titled ‘Emergence of ISIS in Middle East and its implications for South Asia’, began at National University of Modern Languages (Numl) on Tuesday.

According to the Numl public relations department, several national and international experts who spoke at the event believe that the self-styled Islamic State (IS) – also known as ISIS, ISIL and Daesh – has nothing to do with Islam, and was created to promote a false image of Islam to the rest of the world.

They said there was a need to revisit Islamic teachings, such as the belief that taking a single human life is equivalent to killing the whole of mankind.

The chief guest, retired AVM Shahzad Choudhry, said that IS has become a global threat, and is present not only in the Middle East but is also spreading to to vulnerable areas like Afghanistan.

“After the successful operation of Zarb-e-Azb one should believe that the Pakistan armed forces have the ability to root out any militant group from its soil,” Mr Choudhry said.

He added that Afghanistan is a weak state, and IS’ rapid emergence in the area is a significant threat to its surrounding states.

He said that Islam is a religion of peace, and that it is not only for Muslims, but for all humans.

“Superpowers must stop manipulating the Middle East for their own agendas and leave it to the people of the Middle East to resolve their issues,” Mr Choudhry said.

Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces International Affairs assistant director Dr Daniel Warner said that IS has all the resources necessary for a state.

He said that it holds territory larger than the UK, and is scattered within the region, making it difficult for any country to launch an operation against them. “They have huge resources, like selling of oil and so on, and using the latest weapons and communications technology to propagate their agenda,” he said.

He said that it is a misconception that the US is funding ISIS, and that ISIS has rich resources through which is carries out its agenda.

Dr Sayed-Mahdi Mosvai from the Qom Islamic University in Iran said the world is giving ISIS extra importance, but that it is just a terror group.

He talked about a war of ideology, and said that Islamic ideology is based on peace and patience. He said that while terror organisations kill humans in the name of Islam, the purpose is just to blame Islam.

“They have their own agendas and thinking. IS thinks the whole world is illiterate and only they (IS) are wise to decide the rules,” he said.

He also briefed participants on Islamic ideology in detail.

Russian embassy counsellor Andrey Shabalin said there was evidence that ISIS’ roots were connected to the Ottoman caliphate (Khilafat-i-Usmania).

The list of guest speakers on the first day of the conference included: National Defence University (NDU) International Relations Department head Dr Mohammad Khan, University of London’s Dr Matthew Nelson, Embassy of the Republic of Iraq Consel Maki R Abdullah Al-Mamori, University of Oxford’s Dr Adeel Malik, NDU’s Dr Asma Shakir Khawaja, Xinjiang Normal University’s Chen Tong and University of Management & Technology Lahore’s Raza Naeem.

Numl director general Brig Riaz Ahmed Gondal, Numl registrars, deans, directors and students also attended the conference.