IS transformed political situation in ME & beyond: Polish professor

Lahore: Prof. Dr. Piotr Balcerowicz, Chair of South Asian Studies at University of Warsaw, Poland, has stated that the emergence of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has transformed the political situation in Middle East and beyond.

He was addressing a seminar organized by Punjab University’s Pakistan Study Centre on destabilization of Middle East. Director Pakistan Study Centre Prof. Dr. Masarrat Abid, faculty members and a number of students were present on the occasion.

Speaking in detail on the subject, he said that the political entity was both a result of a gradual process of destabilization of the region as well as a new factor that had triggered a number of new significant changes which had resulted in a complete reshuffle of the political map of the region. He added that ISIS had received a number of political players and countries but was also opposed by a coalition of other countries. He said the involvement of a few dozen countries in the conflict had turned it into a kind of a creeping World War III.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Dr. Masarrat Abid, Director Pakistan Study Centre, also spoke on the occasion. She said that US intervention in countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria had given rise to several crises in the World. She said the violence and instability had not just spread in the Middle East but the war like situation was having an impact on Afghanistan and Pakistan as well and had turned millions of people into refugees. In the end a lively question answer session was also conducted.