ZABMUN is a Model United Nations (MUN) organized by the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST) annually. Our school participated in this year’s conference ZABMUN 2012. The participants, most of whom were winners of SM-MUN, were quite eager to participate in the event. The participants included Sahir Arif Khan, Syed Imran Bokhari, Asfia Khan, Mashaal Ghaffar, Rida Tafveez, Imraha Farooq, Palwasha Ghaffar, Muhammad Daniyal Musharraf, Syed Daniyal Ali, Jazaib Haider Naqvi, Syed Wasif Bukhari, Hussain Fakharuddin, Muhamaad Umer Javaid, Abdul Rehman, Eshal Waris, Abbas Asad, Murtaza Sarosh Rizvi and me.
Thursday 8th November 2012; Day 1 of ZABMUN: We all arrived in school dressed up, and eager to be a part of ZABMUN. The school van took us to Carlton hotel, and we waited in the lobby for the registrations to open. By 9:30 AM the registration desk had opened and we collected our id cards and other delegation accessories from the desk and were seated in the Ball Room for the grand opening ceremony. This year ZABMUN 2012 organizing team had not announced the schedule; it was distributed along with the delegation accessories. After the opening ceremony, we all had lunch at Carlton, and then met our fellow delegates and lobbied for the issues at hand. The lobbying primarily was focused at setting the agendas of the committee the next day. Soon afterwards we all left.
Friday 9th November 2012; Day 2 of ZABMUN: This day too, we all left from the school via the van; although it was a public holiday, the school managed to drop us at the venue. At Carlton Hotel, the sessions began a little later than expected due to the confusion about the committee rooms. By the end of the first session, a fire had broken out in Carlton, and we were asked to evacuate the hotel with immediate effect. The evacuation was done quickly; we ran down the stairs with thick dark chocking smoke around us; the power had gone out too. Midst that confusion, Mashaal gathered all the students and stayed with them, and I went to look for those who were not with us, and managed to round them all up. Then did we notice the thick off-white flames coming from the top floor of the hotel. Some time later the Fire Brigade arrived to tackle the flames. We stayed together for some time, and it was announced that the break had been extended by an hour. Later the session resumed after an even extended break, they had sprayed a lot of room freshener all over the hotel, yet the whole place still had the pungent smoky smell. The ending time had been extended too, after that we all went home.
Saturday 10th November 2012; Day 3 of ZABMUN: The day went by smoothly, with nothing extraordinary of the sort. We all had debated hard in the first session of the day, and had an exceptionally short break, and then the second session went well too.
Sunday 11th November 2012; Day 4 of ZABMUN: The last session of ZABMUN was in the first half of the day, and had crises coming up in most committees, and the session’s duration was extended longer than planned. After the event’s debates were over by 1:00 PM, we all gathered in the lobby for lunch. The organizers decided to start the Closing Ceremony earlier than planned, and some of us had to go to the Ceremony without lunch. The closing ceremony was a really adrenaline boosted one for most of the participants. Our school won two Best Delegate Awards, conferred upon Abdul Rehman and Muhammad Daniyal Musharraf; and an Honorary Mention, conferred upon Jazaib Haider Naqvi.
The over all experience was a great one, in which we learned many new things to carry on all along our lives.