KARACHI, Aug 30: The former prime minister of Malaysia and a leading spokesman of the rights of Muslim countries, Dr Mahathir Mohammad, will be the key-note speaker at a three-day conference being organized in the city from Sept 3.

The international conference on "Muslim Ummah in the modern world: Challenges and Opportunities" is being organized by the Hamdard Foundation Pakistan. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has also been invited.

This was disclosed by coordinator of the conference, Maj Gen (retd) Ghulam Umar, while addressing a news conference at the Karachi Press Club on Monday. Unfolding the salient features of the conference, he said that the Karachi meeting would be an independent follow-up of the OIC Summit, held in Malaysia, at which both President Musharraf and Dr Mahathir made a candid and spirited exposition of the problems of Muslim Ummah and their required remedial measures. Hamdard Foundation President Mrs Sadia Rashid was also present at the press conference.

The three-day international conference would be attended by a cross-section of distinguished scholars, professionals, technocrats, present and former diplomats from within the country and abroad. They would speak on the political environment, national and international linkages in the Islamic world and opportunities for further cohesion.