ISLAMABAD: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has announced plans to set up an international center at the Islamic International University (IIU) in Islamabad to promote interfaith harmony and religious moderation, a statement released on Thursday read.
As per the official handout circulated by the IIU, an agreement for the initiative was signed in Rabat, Morocco between Dr. Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri, the head of the OIC’s Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and the IIU President Dr. Ahmed Yousif Aldraiweesh. Both the parties agreed that the expenses of the center will be incurred by the OIC.
The facility will also bring together foreign and local experts who will produce literature to address extremist tendencies and provide counter-narratives for radical ideas and ideologies.
The intellectual contributions of these experts will then be used to devise effective strategies to eradicate violent extremism. The IIU management and faculty members have already worked in this field by creating material to promote moderation.
Most recently, the IIU’s senior staff members also spearheaded the effort to produce the “Paigham-e-Pakistan” which is a fatwa or religious decree issued by scholars representing all schools of thought and promoted by the country as part of its national narrative to counter militancy and anti-state activities.
During his visit to Morocco, IIU’s Aldraiweesh also shared details of the same document with a number of Muslim scholars who appreciated the effort and called it a strong foundation against extremist groups, mindsets, and ideologies.
OIC looks to promote interfaith harmony with new center in Islamabad
OIC looks to promote interfaith harmony with new center in Islamabad
- To tie up with International Islamic University for the initiative
- Varsity was at the forefront of producing a unified document to counter terrorism in Pakistan
Four people, including two policemen, killed in twin blasts in northwest Pakistan
- Attack on police van in South Waziristan and motorbike-mounted IED in Lakki Marwat hits KP province
- Violence comes amid a surge in militancy and cross-border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD: At least four people, including two policemen, were killed and about 20 others wounded in two separate blasts in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday, officials said, the latest violence in a region grappling with militant violence.
One explosion targeted a police patrol van in Wana, the main town of South Waziristan district near the Afghan border, while another blast caused by explosives mounted on a motorbike struck a market area in Lakki Marwat district, according to police officials and preliminary reports.
The incidents come amid rising militant violence in Pakistan’s northwest, where authorities say armed groups operate from across the border in Afghanistan, straining relations between Islamabad and the Taliban administration in Kabul, with both sides engaged in a military conflict since last month.
“The control room received information in the evening about a bomb blast targeting a police van in Wana Bazaar,” a police official in the area, who did not want to be named, confirmed while speaking to Arab News over the phone.
He confirmed two deaths in the incident while saying more than 25 people had been injured.
The official said rescue teams responded promptly and shifted three seriously injured people to a nearby hospital in Wana.
In another incident during the day in Lakki Marwat, an improvised explosive device attached to a motorbike exploded near shops.
“Two people have been killed and about 10 have been injured in an IED blast in Lakki Marwat,” Raza Khan, Deputy Superintendent of Police in Bannu, told Arab News.
“The deceased are identified as Shoaib Ur Rehman and Furqan Ullah,” he added. “Shoaib, the owner of the shop, was the brother of the Lakki peace committee head.”
Peace committees in the region are informal, community-based groups that work with security forces to report militant activity and maintain order, making their members frequent targets of attacks.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attacks and expressed grief over the incidents.
“I strongly condemn the blast near a police patrolling vehicle in Wana Bazaar,” Naqvi said in a statement, confirming the killing of four people, including two police personnel.
“Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police are on the front line in the war against terrorism,” he said, noting the force had made “unforgettable sacrifices” in the fight against militant groups.
Militant violence has surged in Pakistan’s border regions in recent months, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces.
Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban government of allowing militant groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), to operate from Afghan territory — a charge Kabul denies — as cross-border tensions between the two neighbors have escalated.
