The conference, with the theme “Socio-Economic and Political Empowerment of Women in the OIC Countries: Challenges and Way Forward”, is being organised by the human rights ministry and will be held at the Jinnah Convention Centre.

It will bring together ministers responsible for women and family affairs, senior government officials, representatives of OIC institutions, international organisations and development partners to deliberate on advancing the socio-economic and political empowerment of women across the OIC member states, state-run APP noted.

Minister for Law, Justice and Human Rights Azam Nazeer Tarar will chair the conference on behalf of Pakistan.

As the chair, Pakistan will lead the conference proceedings and work closely with OIC member states to foster dialogue, build consensus and advance collective efforts towards the empowerment of women across the Muslim world, APP said.

It added that Pakistan’s hosting of the moot reflected its “steadfast commitment” to OIC’s objectives and to strengthening cooperation among its members in advancing women’s rights, dignity and empowerment.

Over the next two days, participating delegations will engage in high-level discussions to review progress, exchange experiences and best practices, and identify practical pathways for enhancing the socio-economic and political empowerment of women across the OIC member states.

In a post on X on Saturday, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar offered a “warm welcome” to the delegates and wished them “productive discussions and a memorable stay”.

He shared an image highlighting that representatives from 57 OIC member states would gather in the federal capital for the conference.

Some of the visiting delegations were warmly received at Islamabad International Airport today by Minister of State for Law and Justice Barrister Aqeel Malik, Parliamentary Secretary for Human Rights Saba Sadiq, and Parliamentary Secretary for Law and Justice Farah Naz Akbar. Senior officials of the human rights and foreign affairs ministries, along with other government representatives, were also present.

According to posts on X by the human rights ministry, those participating in the conference include Saudi Arabia’s Family Affairs Council Secretary General Dr Maimoonah Khalil Alkhalil, Egypt’s National Council for Women President Amal Ammar, Bangladesh’s Women and Children Affairs Minister Abu Zafar Md. Zahid Hossain, and Iraq’s Vice President for Women and Family Affairs Dr Zainab Al-Mulla Al-Sultani.

Others attending include Libya’s Minister of State for Women’s Affairs Grebe Randa, her Yemeni counterpart Dr Ahed Mohammed Jassous, Nigeria’s Women Affairs Minister Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, Somalia’s Family and Human Rights Development Minister Khadija Makhzoumi, and Mauritania’s Social Affairs Ministry Secretary General Hamoudi Cheikhna Ali.

Pakistan ranked the lowest among 148 countries in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2025 — with 56.7 per cent gender parity — the highest since 2006.

The figure was a second consecutive drop from the economy’s best score of 57.7pc, achieved in 2023.

According to the International Labour Organ­isation (ILO), women in wage employment earn approximately 30 per cent lower monthly wages than their male counterparts in Pakistan.

Speaking with Reuters on Thursday in a Palestinian village, Khanna said his group’s van was surrounded by settlers wielding M4 rifles a day earlier while touring a part of the southern West Bank, where residents face frequent settler attacks.

“We were at a village that Israeli settlers had destroyed, they had destroyed the school, they had destroyed that village, and we were just looking at it,” said Khanna, a progressive lawmaker from California in the US House of Representatives.

“And these hoodlums come in with machine guns, M4, an American-made machine gun, and they detain us. They block off the road. And then they call the IDF, and the IDF is on their side, not on the side of the Americans,” Khanna said, referring to the Israeli military.

An aide to Khanna who was in the group, Cameron Kasky, said they were held for more than an hour and made appeals to the US Embassy in Jerusalem for help. A group of officers who appeared to be police eventually intervened, leading to their release, Kasky said.

The Israeli military said troops and police officers intervened after receiving a report of settlers blocking vehicles near Khirbet Zanuta, a small Palestinian hamlet whose residents were forcibly displaced by violent settler raids following the 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel.

“Upon their arrival, the troops dispersed the Israeli civilians and allowed the vehicles to continue on their way,” the military said.

Israel’s police did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the US Embassy in Jerusalem.

Democrats divided over Israeli conduct

Khanna is the second Democrat considering a White House bid to visit the region this week.

In Tel Aviv on Wednesday, Rahm Emanuel, who was chief of staff to former president Barack Obama, said Israeli policies toward Palestinians were eroding support for the US-Israeli alliance.

Asked if he was running for president, Khanna said: “I’m strongly considering it, and I’m more resolved to consider it after this trip.”

Israel’s conduct toward Palestinians has emerged as a flashpoint in Democratic politics ahead of November’s US midterm elections, contributing to primary defeats for some incumbent lawmakers targeted by left-wing challengers who accused them of supporting Israel’s right-wing government.

Israel’s favorability rating among Democrats fell from 59 per cent in 2018 to 22 per cent in May, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling.

While Israel has long enjoyed strong bipartisan US support, an increasing number of Democrats in Congress are now pressing to cut off military aid, which amounts to $3.8 billion per year and includes funding for light weaponry like M4 rifles and missile interceptors that Israel used in the Iran war.

Overlooking a valley dotted with settler outposts on the outskirts of Turmus Ayya, a village home to thousands of Palestinian-American dual nationals, Khanna said he believed his party’s establishment was “clueless about how much of a moral test Palestine, Gaza and Israel have become”.

He said he chose to do a visit exclusively to the West Bank, with programming led by Palestinians, to give him an unfiltered view of the territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

“If you’re unwilling to speak up for Palestinian human rights, if you’re unwilling to speak up against the genocide in Gaza, the apartheid in the West Bank, then you are morally compromised,” Khanna stressed.

Israel rejects allegations that it carried out a genocide in Gaza, or that it instituted an apartheid regime in the West Bank, which has a population of about 3 million Palestinians and around 500,000 Jewish settlers.

Most countries and the United Nations regard Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal under international law, citing the Fourth Geneva Convention’s prohibition on transferring a civilian population into occupied territory.

Israel rejects that position, saying the West Bank is disputed territory where there has been a Jewish presence for thousands of years. Palestinians view the West Bank, together with Gaza and East Jerusalem, as part of a Palestinian state.

Support remains strong among Republicans, though some elements of Trump’s coalition have also called for cutting off aid.

Security forces killed two more terrorists linked to Fitna al Hindustan during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) near the N-25 crossing in Balochistan, Radio Pakistan reported.

Fitna al Hindustan is a term designated by the state for terrorist organisations in Balo­chistan.

The security sources added that security personnel recovered weapons, hand grenades, a motorcycle, mobile phones, flags of a banned outfit and other equipment from the two men.

“Operation Shaban continues across Balochistan as the Pakistan Army, Frontier Corps and police intensify coordinated air and ground operations against terrorist hideouts,” said state-run Pakistan TV on the social media platform X earlier today.

“According to security sources, nine terrorists were killed in the latest action, taking the total eliminated under Operation Shaban to 52 and the overall tally since July 5, including intelligence-based operations, to 88,” it said.

“Security sources say the operation will continue until the last terrorist is eliminated,” it added.

Security sources said on Friday that security forces, including the Pakistan Army, Frontier Corps and police, had been conducting a joint operation in Quetta district’s Shaban area since July 5 against terrorists involved in the killing of 27 police personnel during an attack on a police post at Mangi dam pumping station.

The terrorists had martyred nine police personnel, including two station house officers, and taken away 18 other policemen at gunpoint. Later, they killed the abducted police personnel, whose bodies were found in the Zarghoon Gar mountainous area.

State-run Radio Pakistan had reported on Friday that 79 terrorists had been killed in Balochistan since July 5.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, in a statement, paid tribute to the army, Balochistan FC and police for eliminating nine more terrorists in Operation Shaban.

Commending their “unwavering resolve and bravery”, Naqvi said the forces had thwarted the enemy’s nefarious designs.

“The sacrifices and successes of the forces for the sake of peace in Balochistan are a golden chapter in history. Terrorists are a burden on the country and the nation,” he was quoted as saying.

The minister asserted that enemies of peace “will not find a place to hide anywhere”.

Meanwhile, Balochistan Chief Minister’s aide on Information and Political Affairs Shahid Rind said that on the directions of CM Bugti, orders had been issued for giving Rs11.1m to the families of those martyred in the Mangi dam attack.

On the special instructions of the chief minister, he said, all administrative and financial procedures for the disbursement of the compensation were completed on a fast-track basis.

He further said the government of Balochistan “will support the families of the martyrs, ensure their welfare, and bear all educational expenses of the martyrs’ children”.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Thursday that the country’s civil and military leadership had taken a “mutual and singular decision” to end terrorism after multiple major terrorist incidents in Balochistan.

He made the remarks at a meeting in Quetta of the Provincial Apex Committee on the National Action Plan, with Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir also present.

Chairing the meeting, PM Shehbaz declared, “One thing is decided: it is a mutual and singular decision of the civil and military leadership that we must end terrorism collectively.”

In the terrorist attacks and subsequent operations since July 5, at least 42 people — four civilians, 27 policemen and 11 security personnel — had lost their lives, according to the military’s spokesperson.