KARACHI, April 14: At a time when the Muslim world is facing Israeli and Indian brutalities in Palestine and the occupied Kashmir and security analysts have urged the European Union to play its own role, independent of the US, in defusing tension and resolving conflicts, a two-day international seminar will be held here on April 17 and 18.

The Area Study Centre for Europe, University of Karachi, is organizing the seminar on “Relations between the European Union and the Muslim World in the contemporary geopolitical and economic scenario” in collaboration with the European Union and the Hanns Seidel Foundation.

Besides Pakistan, scholars from Germany, the UK, Austria, Turkey, Indonesia, Italy and Russia will be attending the seminar.

The international seminar will discuss many facets of the European Union’s relations with the Muslim world, including issues such as the spread of Islamic fundamentalism and its fallout, the status of democracy and human rights in the Muslim countries and the economic and political interaction of Europe with various regions in the Islamic world.

The theme of the seminar will be as to how East and West can find firm grounds for cooperation. The seminar will also provide an opportunity to counter the impression that all the Muslim countries are fundamentalists or autocratic, and violators of human rights.

Analysts believe that the EU can play an effective role in the Middle East because of its economic clout. About 50 per cent of the Palestinian Authority’s expenditure is met by the EU. They say in the Middle East, the EU has taken a clear stand in favour of the peace process.