By Fawad Yousafzai
Says organisation does not have any award under this name
ISLAMABAD – The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) has refuted the claim of conferring ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’, on Pakistan’s Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal, saying that the organization does not have any award under this name. “ICESCO would like to clarify the recent reports circulating in some sections of Pakistani media regarding the Organization’s alleged awarding of a “Lifetime Achievement Award” to Ahsan Iqbal. We affirm that this information is inaccurate. ICESCO does not have an award under this name, nor has it granted such a distinction,” said ICECO in its statement.
Notably, on June 23, 2025 the Planning Ministry released a message to the media, claiming “In a landmark recognition of knowledge leadership, Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Medal of Honour by the ICESCO during the 6th Vice Chancellors’ Forum of Universities in the Islamic World.” The publication of the misleading news, in Pakistani print media, attracted a strong reaction from ICESCO. In its statement ICESCO said that the recognition presented to Dr. Ahsan Iqbal took place during the VCs’ Forum, which is supervised by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan. “The recognition presented to Ahsan Iqbal took place during the Vice Chancellors’ Forum, which is supervised by the HEC of Pakistan. The sixth session of this Forum was hosted at ICESCO Headquarters in Rabat, where the Forum organizers presented an honorary shield to Dr Ahsan Iqbal in appreciation of his contributions to the advancement of higher education.”
“While ICESCO holds Ahsan Iqbal in high regard and values his efforts, we kindly urge all media outlets to verify information through official sources when reporting on matters related to the Organization,” the statement said further. Following the ICESCO reaction, the media team of the Ministry issued clarification of its press release and changed the online version of the news story. The scribe sent queries to the spokesman for the Federal Minister for Planning to clarify their position in the light of the ICESCO statement. The spokesman replied: “You have rightly pointed out that the initial press release carried a minor semantic error by referring to the recognition as “by ICESCO’s Vice Chancellors Forum” instead of the corrected and more accurate version: “at the ICESCO’s VCs Forum of Universities in the Islamic World.” This was promptly addressed, and the revised press release was shared the same day across social, digital, and print platforms. He further said that the Lifetime Achievement Award was conferred to Ahsan Iqbal, at the 6th VC’ Forum held at the ICESCO headquarters in Rabat, Morocco on June 23–24, 2025. During the proceedings, Ahsan Iqbal’s two-decade-long leadership in transforming Pakistan’s higher education, science, technology, and innovation sectors was widely acknowledged, the spokesman said.
