By Khalid Khattak
THE growing trend of organising mock forums by students is a healthy sign as the same not only provides an opportunity to the youth to debate issues of national and international importance but also to know functioning of supreme institutions such as parliament.
The simulation exercise also provides an opportunity to the youth to experience the subtleties of diplomatic negotiations especially when a Model United Nations (MUN) is organised.
Punjab University (PU) students presenting Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s case in a mock court at the varsity last week rejected the allegations levelled against her in a US court.
The mock court, organised by Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT), also decided to bring back Dr Aafia keeping in view sentiments and feelings of people of Pakistan. It also urged the Pakistani government to take all possible measures for release of Dr Aafia.
Similarly the 1st Indian Mock Parliament was organised by Seeds of Peace, Pakistan, recently and Pakistani students from different education institutions of the city participated in its different sessions and replicated the Indian Parliament.It is pertinent to mention here that Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) Model United Nations Society has been organising Model United Nations (LUMUN) since 2000 to discuss sensitive issues of international concern.
According to Dania Mukhtar, director, Media LUMUN 2010, the annual LUMUN conference is one of the largest student conferences in Asia as it attracts over 1,200 delegates from all over the country and abroad.
At the conference, students assume the role of ambassadors representing different countries and discuss a wide range of issues in a setting modelling various committees of the United Nations, she says.
The initiatives like this have value not just as a mental stimulation but also as a means to understanding each other’s opinions, perspectives and cultural sensitivities.
She says a large reason for the success of LUMUN’s flagship conference is the exposure of its organising team at an international level. “Every March, an eight-member delegation, selected after careful screening, represents LUMUN at the Harvard World Model United Nations, the Leviathan of Model UN conferences. It attracts delegations from world over, including top of the line universities such as Oxford, Princeton, MIT and London School of Economics, to name a few.” “The LUMS delegation has nonetheless consistently been winning the Best Delegation Award at the conference for the past five years, a feat which has lent a big hand to its credibility,” Dania adds.
And that is not the end of it -even a social responsibility programme has sprung up under the LUMUN. The society now trains students from the CARE Foundation’s schools in public speaking and also held a CAREMUN just this summer. The LUMUN is going to be held from 22nd to 26th December, 2010, she concluded.Academic circles are of the view that the government should also take steps to introduce similar kind of ‘mock forums’ at public sector colleges and schools to provide students with an opportunity of a healthy and constructive debate and to explore their hidden potential.
——-lachvee@gmail.com
Source: The News International
Monday, November 01, 2010
THE growing trend of organising mock forums by students is a healthy sign as the same not only provides an opportunity to the youth to debate issues of national and international importance but also to know functioning of supreme institutions such as parliament.
The simulation exercise also provides an opportunity to the youth to experience the subtleties of diplomatic negotiations especially when a Model United Nations (MUN) is organised.
Punjab University (PU) students presenting Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s case in a mock court at the varsity last week rejected the allegations levelled against her in a US court.
The mock court, organised by Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT), also decided to bring back Dr Aafia keeping in view sentiments and feelings of people of Pakistan. It also urged the Pakistani government to take all possible measures for release of Dr Aafia.
Similarly the 1st Indian Mock Parliament was organised by Seeds of Peace, Pakistan, recently and Pakistani students from different education institutions of the city participated in its different sessions and replicated the Indian Parliament.It is pertinent to mention here that Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) Model United Nations Society has been organising Model United Nations (LUMUN) since 2000 to discuss sensitive issues of international concern.
According to Dania Mukhtar, director, Media LUMUN 2010, the annual LUMUN conference is one of the largest student conferences in Asia as it attracts over 1,200 delegates from all over the country and abroad.
At the conference, students assume the role of ambassadors representing different countries and discuss a wide range of issues in a setting modelling various committees of the United Nations, she says.
The initiatives like this have value not just as a mental stimulation but also as a means to understanding each other’s opinions, perspectives and cultural sensitivities.
She says a large reason for the success of LUMUN’s flagship conference is the exposure of its organising team at an international level. “Every March, an eight-member delegation, selected after careful screening, represents LUMUN at the Harvard World Model United Nations, the Leviathan of Model UN conferences. It attracts delegations from world over, including top of the line universities such as Oxford, Princeton, MIT and London School of Economics, to name a few.” “The LUMS delegation has nonetheless consistently been winning the Best Delegation Award at the conference for the past five years, a feat which has lent a big hand to its credibility,” Dania adds.
And that is not the end of it -even a social responsibility programme has sprung up under the LUMUN. The society now trains students from the CARE Foundation’s schools in public speaking and also held a CAREMUN just this summer. The LUMUN is going to be held from 22nd to 26th December, 2010, she concluded.Academic circles are of the view that the government should also take steps to introduce similar kind of ‘mock forums’ at public sector colleges and schools to provide students with an opportunity of a healthy and constructive debate and to explore their hidden potential.
——-lachvee@gmail.com
Source: The News International
Monday, November 01, 2010
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