ISLAMABAD: Sheikh Mohammad bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa, secretary-general of the Muslim World League (MWL), on Sunday vowed to make the declaration of a global summit in Islamabad on girls’ education in Muslim countries a constitutional document of the MWL for “tangible” impact.
He expressed these views while addressing the concluding session of the two-day conference, titled “Girls’ Education in Muslim Communities: Challenges and Opportunities,” which was co-hosted by Pakistan and the MWL.
Over 150 representatives from 47 countries, including education experts, religious scholars, diplomats and politicians, attended the summit. It comes at a time when global leaders, organizations and activists are urging the Taliban to reverse their restrictive policies about women in Afghanistan.
The conference concluded with the adoption of the ‘Islamabad Declaration,’ a framework to address challenges in girls’ education in Muslim communities through gender-sensitive policies, resource mobilization, and strengthened international partnerships.
“The Muslim World League, along with its partners, commits to making the ‘Islamabad Declaration’ a constitutional document so the impact will be tangible,” the MWL chief said, adding that Islamic scholars addressed various misconceptions during the “exceptional and unified solidarity meeting” in Islamabad.
“Such a diverse group of scholars, with the presence of major Islamic jurisprudential councils, particularly the International Islamic Fiqh Academy under the OIC [Organiation of Islamic Cooperation], sends a strong message to the world about the unified stance of the scholars of the Islamic Ummah regarding girls’ education.”
The MWL chief said the Muslim world needed this collaboration for a unified voice reflecting Islam’s teachings.
“No one can claim to speak on behalf of Islam regarding this issue anymore as the scholars of the Ummah, supported by their jurisprudential councils, have delivered a clear and definitive statement,” he said.
“We do not address any specific individual or entity but speak to anyone opposing or hindering this cause, whether individuals or institutions, public or private.”
Muslim communities have often faced criticism for not providing sufficient opportunities to women in fields like education, though many of their countries have made significant strides in promoting women’s participation across various fields.
The issue of girls’ education has drawn heightened attention recently, particularly after Afghanistan’s interim administration, led by the Taliban, imposed restrictions on girls’ education, including shutting down secondary schools and barring women from attending universities.
On the first day of the conference, the secretary-general of the MWL, a Makkah-based non-governmental organization that represents followers of Islam around the world, said Islam places no restrictive conditions on girls’ education, and anyone opposing it deviates from the global Muslim community.
ISLAMABAD DECLARATION
The declaration emphasized that girls’ education is not only a religious obligation but also an “urgent societal necessity.”
“It is a fundamental right safeguarded by divine laws, mandated by Islamic teachings, reinforced by international charters, and well-established by national constitutions,” it said, calling for unified efforts to safeguard girls’ right to education and ensure their empowerment, and acknowledging that educated women play a pivotal role in fostering stable families and communities.
“This, in turn, promotes global peace, national harmony, and fortifies societies against challenges such as extremism, violence, crime, and atheism.”
Cautioning against extremist ideologies, the declaration said that issuing decrees and opinions, rooted in cultural norms and patterns, that obstruct girls’ education constitute a “regrettable perpetuation of societal biases against women.”
“Such actions represent a grave misuse of religious principles to legitimize policies of deprivation and exclusion,” it said.
The Islamabad Declaration urged mobilizing resources to support efforts to advance education through improved methods and content, with a particular emphasis on girls’ education, ensuring it is placed at the forefront of national priorities.
“Declaring that anyone who rejects or opposes these well-grounded Islamic religious principles is, by the consensus of this gathering as referenced in the preamble of this Declaration, considered outside the framework of the Islamic Ummah’s concepts and cannot be regarded as part of it,” it said, adding that it is essential to disavow such an ideology, whether they are an individual, an institution, or an entity, public or private.
At the end, the declaration stated that the MWL chief, being the initiator of the conference, will communicate all resolutions of the conference, oversee their implementation, and ensure the necessary financial and moral support.
The participants urged the initiator of the conference to establish a permanent committee to oversee the implementation of the outcomes of the event, including various agreements, which laid the foundation for an impactful action.
Yusuf Raza Gilani, chairman of Pakistan’s Senate, urged the Muslim world to embrace a comprehensive approach that combines collaborative action, resource development, and community engagement for girls’ education.
“I urge distinguished scholars and policymakers to translate the invaluable insights and lessons of this conference into tangible, impactful strategies that will inspire change,” he said at the concluding session.
Muslim World League pledges to make ‘Islamabad Declaration’ constitutional document for girls’ education
https://arab.news/nvz6v
Muslim World League pledges to make ‘Islamabad Declaration’ constitutional document for girls’ education
- The declaration was adopted at the end of a two-day conference in Pakistan on girls’ education in Muslim communities
- It outlines framework to tackle challenges in girls’ education through gender-sensitive policies, resource mobilization
‘Look ahead or look up?’: Pakistan’s police face new challenge as militants take to drone warfare
- Officials say militants are using weapons and equipment left behind after allied forces withdrew from Afghanistan
- Police in northwest Pakistan say electronic jammers have helped repel more than 300 drone attacks since mid-2025
BANNU, Pakistan: On a quiet morning last July, Constable Hazrat Ali had just finished his prayers at the Miryan police station in Pakistan’s volatile northwest when the shouting began.
His colleagues in Bannu district spotted a small speck in the sky. Before Ali could take cover, an explosion tore through the compound behind him. It was not a mortar or a suicide vest, but an improvised explosive dropped from a drone.
“Now should we look ahead or look up [to sky]?” said Ali, who was wounded again in a second drone strike during an operation against militants last month. He still carries shrapnel scars on his back, hand and foot, physical reminders of how the battlefield has shifted upward.
For police in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, the fight against militancy has become a three-dimensional conflict. Pakistani officials say armed groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), are increasingly deploying commercial drones modified to drop explosives, alongside other weapons they say were acquired after the US military withdrawal from neighboring Afghanistan.
Security analysts say the trend mirrors a wider global pattern, where low-cost, commercially available drones are being repurposed by non-state actors from the Middle East to Eastern Europe, challenging traditional policing and counterinsurgency tactics.
The escalation comes as militant violence has surged across Pakistan. Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) reported a 73 percent rise in combat-related deaths in 2025, with fatalities climbing to 3,387 from 1,950 a year earlier. Militants have increasingly shifted operations from northern tribal belts to southern KP districts such as Bannu, Lakki Marwat and Dera Ismail Khan.
“Bannu is an important town of southern KP, and we are feeling the heat,” said Sajjad Khan, the region’s police chief. “There has been an enormous increase in the number of incidents of terrorism… It is a mix of local militants and Afghan militants.”
In 2025 alone, Bannu police recorded 134 attacks on stations, checkpoints and personnel. At least 27 police officers were killed, while authorities say 53 militants died in the clashes. Many assaults involved coordinated, multi-pronged attacks using heavy weapons.
Drones have also added a new layer of danger. What began as reconnaissance tools have been weaponized with improvised devices that rely on gravity rather than guidance systems.
“Earlier, they used to drop [explosives] in bottles. After that, they started cutting pipes for this purpose,” said Jamshed Khan, head of the regional bomb disposal unit. “Now we have encountered a new type: a pistol hand grenade.”
When dropped from above, he explained, a metal pin ignites the charge on impact.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Raza Khan, who narrowly survived a drone strike during construction at a checkpoint, described devices packed with nails, bullets and metal fragments.
“They attach a shuttlecock-like piece on top. When they drop it from a height, its direction remains straight toward the ground,” he said.
TARGETING CIVILIANS
Officials say militants’ rapid adoption of drone technology has been fueled by access to equipment on informal markets, while police procurement remains slower.
“It is easy for militants to get such things,” Sajjad Khan said. “And for us, I mean, we have to go through certain process and procedures as per rules.”
That imbalance began to shift in mid-2025, when authorities deployed electronic anti-drone systems in the region. Before that, officers relied on snipers or improvised nets strung over police compounds.
“Initially, when we did not have that anti-drone system, their strikes were effective,” the police chief said, adding that more than 300 attempted drone attacks have since been repelled or electronically disrupted. “That was a decisive moment.”
Police say militants have also targeted civilians, killing nine people in drone attacks this year, often in communities accused of cooperating with authorities. Several police stations suffered structural damage.
Bannu’s location as a gateway between Pakistan and Afghanistan has made it a security flashpoint since colonial times. But officials say the aerial dimension of the conflict has placed unprecedented strain on local forces.
For constables like Hazrat Ali, new technology offers some protection, but resolve remains central.
“Nowadays, they have ammunition and all kinds of the most modern weapons. They also have large drones,” he said. “When we fight them, we fight with our courage and determination.”
