ISLAMABAD, Oct 2: Delegates to a conference here on Wednesday pledged to help women overcome injustices and emancipate themselves from practices incompatible with religious values and human dignity.

The pledge was made at the opening session of a five-day International Muslim Women Union (IMWU) conference of “Basic Trust” at a local hotel with adviser to the prime minister on women development Nilofer Bakhtiar as the chief guest.

They also unanimously passed a resolution asking the IMWU, which has a consultative status with the United Nations, to take special measures for safeguarding the rights of women facing inevitable infirmities of war in Kashmir, Palestine, Iraq and other parts of the world.

Ms Bakhtiar said time had come when women all around the world should stand up for their rights, especially in the war- ravaged countries.

Most of the current crises, which have held hostage the entire world, are man-made whereas women are the worst sufferers in such situations.

The adviser said the conference deserved appreciation for taking an initiative to provide the Muslim women an opportunity to get together, discuss the issues confronting the Muslim world and suggest solutions to the problems.

“A big responsibility lies on the shoulders of Muslim women. In many ways we are the most misunderstood section of humanity. Strange stereotypes concerning women prevail in the West. What is more unfortunate is that even in our own societies we are sometimes not entirely understood. Hence, it is vital that these misperceptions are timely dispelled,” she said.

“Similarly, what is even more unfortunate is that social indicators relating to women in most Muslim countries are much lower than those relating to men.”

It does not, however, take very deep analysis to single out the most important reasons for the relative backwardness of the Muslim world, which is the lack of adequate attention and emphasis on education, she added.