RAWALPINDI, Aug 15: On the second day of the 4th Saint Mary’s Academy Model United Nations (SMAMUN), students remained busy in the committee meeting, debating on the international challenges faced by man and tried to work out acceptable resolutions that would be passed on Saturday.

Some 400 students from schools, colleges and universities across the country gathered at St Mary’s Academy to debate on issues affecting the world.

SMAMUN has different committees on disarmament in the world, social and cultural values, finance and economic issues, United Nations development plans, counter-terrorism, international atomic energy agency, international crises, Middle East conflict and historical issues.

The students, who represented various countries as delegates, discussed major problems like terrorism, disarmament, credit crunch and human rights violations faced by the world.

The second day began with intense debating in all the committee sessions. The delegates from nearly 50 educational institutions from across the country said the threat of terrorism should be dealt with utmost seriousness and counter arguments were put forth, discussing the issue from western and Islamic points of view. Extremism and fundamentalism were denounced in all forms by the delegates of almost all nations.

They stressed on the bigger nations to take the matter of disarmament seriously and urged them to gear up international efforts to disarm the world of nuclear arms. Though some delegates forwarded arguments in favour of nuclear arms, it was decided in the end that the world would be a safe place to live in without atomic weapons.

SMAMUN President Zain Khan told Dawn that in the Historical General Assembly, delegates relived the pre-war era of December 1971, when the troubles between East and West Pakistan were taking root. All the delegates were adept at portraying their countries stance and did well to pass resolutions and avoid conflicts.

Likewise, in the Economic and Financial Council, discussions revolved around the transfer of resources and other forms of trading between organisations like Saarc, Asean and others.

In the IAEA, the main topic of discussion was the controversial Iranian nuclear programme, with all the delegates actively participating. Each committee made substantial progress by the end of the day, submitting several working papers and eagerly awaiting an output acceptable to all.

The delegated would pass resolutions on different issues on Saturday.