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February 15, 2012- Roundtable Conference held with Gen. (Retd) Jehangir Karamat, Former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Pakistan on 'South Asian States turning into Security States and Its larger Implications'. Aarish U. Khan Jehangir Karamat, former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) of the Pakistan army, said that to transform from a national security state to a social welfare state, Pakistan will have to increase the number of stakeholders in the power sharing arrangement by devolving powers to the lower levels as well as among institutions. He was the main speaker at a roundtable on “South Asian States turning into Security States and its Larger Implications” organized by the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) here on Wednesday. Gen. (Retd.) Karamat defined national security state as a state with inordinate resource allocation towards defense at the cost of social welfare, and said that India was gradually moving away from being a national security state on that account. Pakistan, on the other hand, according to Gen. (Retd.) Karamat, is still quite defense-oriented and, thus, rooted in the national security paradigm. He attributed Pakistan’s national security concerns to its history, unresolved border disputes with India, internal problems such as insurgencies, and the recent emergence...download full report
February 06, 2012- Roundtable Conference held with Bangladesh Media Delegation. Aarish U. Khan Participants of a roundtable discussion organized by the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) here on Monday agreed that Bangladesh and Pakistan needed to enhance cooperation in future and get past the bitter historical legacies of the past. Mr. Sayed Kamaluddin, Editor of the Weekly Holiday Dhaka, was of the view that dreaming about a confederation between Bangladesh and Pakistan was misplaced. He added that Bangladesh was a sovereign political reality that wanted to have good relations with all the regional countries including Pakistan. Mr. Kamaluddin regretted the low volume of trade between Bangladesh and Pakistan. He considered lack of direct shipping line between the two countries as one of the reasons for the low volume of trade and strongly urged both the governments to establish a direct....download full report
February 01, 2012- Roundtable Conference held with Dr. Ishrat Hussain Former Governor State Bank of Pakistan Dr. Shaheen Akhtar According to Dr Ishrat, "army is on board regarding trade with India and the weak industries can be protected through negative list." Referring to WTO two year trade waiver for Pakistan, he said that it would boost trade with EU but with bed linen taken off the list would reduce the benefit to 100 million Euro from 300 Euro that was initially expected from duty free access to European markets to help textile exports after devastating floods of 2010. He proposed remedy in each area by suggesting steps that should be implemented effectively. The energy shortage can be managed by resolving the issue of circular debt. A five year investment bond can be floated to meet the flow cost. Functioning of power companies should be streamlined, private vehicles should be switched over to petrol and industry should be provided with gas. Government should go ahead with IPI and TAPI gas pipeline...download full report
January 24, 2012- Roundtable Conference held with Royal Defence College Team, Denmark on 'Pakistan's Evolving Role in the Resolution of Regional Issues concerning Afghanistan, India and Middle East'. Aarish U. Khan Mr. Ole Kvaernoe, Director of the Institute for Strategy at the Faculty of Strategy and Military Operations of the Royal Danish Defence College, expressed his concern over the situation in Afghanistan. He warned though that a premature withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan could lead to even further destabilization in the region. Prof. Nazir Hussain of the School of Political and International Studies at the Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) maintained that Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan had been grossly misunderstood by the west. He added that Pakistan wants a stable and prosperous Afghanistan. He cautioned against a policy that would not take into account the internal dynamic of Afghan state and society. Prof. Hussain argued that..download full report
January 17, 2012- Roundtable Conference held with Prof. Sajjad Naseer, Lahore School of Economics on 'New Engagement Parameters with US'. Aarish U. Khan Prof. Sajjad Naseer of the Lahore School of Economics, who was the main speaker of the discussion argued that the U.S. was shifting its focus from Europeto the Asia-Pacific region, which was creating new challenges and opportunities for the states in the Asia-Pacific as well as the regions straddling it. He termed the U.S.engagement with India as part of its strategic reorientation. He called for a China-Pakistan alliance in response to the Indo-U.S. nexus.Prof. Naseer was of the view that Pakistan was unable to capitalize on the opportunities being thrown up by the transformation in the international strategic scenario because of its internal economic problems and political instability. Defense Analyst, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Saleem Haider, argued that there was a need for a serious self-assessment in Pakistan before embarking on a quest for establishing new engagement parameters with the U.S. Foreign policy analyst, Amb. B.A. Malik, maintained that since Pakistan had become overly dependent on the U.S. out of fear of India, there was a serious need for addressing the fear factor with respect to India in Pakistan. Amb. Malik called...download full report
January 04, 2012- Roundtable Conference held with Mr. Khurshid Mehmud Kasuri, Former Foreign Minister of Pakistan on 'Pak-India Peace Process: Its Current State and Prospects' Aarish U. Khan Former Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, who was the main speaker at a roundtable organized by the Institute of Regional Studies on Wednesday, said, “Not a single political party of Pakistan is against the peace process with India.” According to Mr. Kasuri, the domestic socio-economic compulsions of both India and Pakistan had made them keen on improving their relations with one another. “India cannot become a global power if it would not resolve its issues with Pakistan,” said Mr. Kasuri. He appreciated Pakistan’s decision, in principle, to grant most-favored nation (MFN) status to India, but added that India also needed to remove the plethora of non-tariff barriers that the Pakistani exporters were facing. Mr. Kasuri said that, contrary to the general perception in the west, the Pakistani military also supports the peace process. He added though that the approach of the military toward India had relatively hardened over the past few years because of excessive Indian involvement in Afghanistan with the approach of the endgame there.Mr. Kasuri shared that... download full report
January 04, 2012- Roundtable held with a delegation from Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on 'Strategic Stability in South Asia' Aarish U. Khan Participants of a roundtable discussion organized by the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) here on Tuesday expressed concern over the situation in Afghanistan. On the other hand, however, they expressed optimism over the improvement in relations between Pakistan and India. George Perkovich, Vice President for Studies and Director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington,DC, maintained that India is eyeing a global role for itself, which has made it more inclined to talk peace with Pakistan. In this, he saw an opportunity for Pakistan to build a peaceful future for the region. He advised the Pakistani decision-makers to resolve Pakistan’s internal problems which, according to him, were a bigger threat to the country than any external threats. Brig. Bashir Ahmed, Senior Fellow at IRS, enumerated the destabilizing influences in the region as volatile Pak-U.S. relations, the equally volatile situation in Afghanistan, the U.S. relations with Iran, and the presence of armed non-state actors in the region. Dr. Shaheen Akhtar, Senior Research Analyst at IRS, was of the opinion that for long-term stability in Afghanistan, the NATO forces would have to plan their withdrawal in a very responsible fashion. Aarish U. Khan, Research Analyst at IRS, was of the view that the understanding of stability and the parameters for success and failure there were rather exaggerated, and that NATO needed to align its aspirations with respect to... download full report
January 04, 2012- In-house 'Post Foreign Visit Conference' Sidra Tariq My recent visit to China’s Gansu Province for a fellowship programme was one of the most enthralling visits of my life. The programme was sponsored by the Foreign Affairs Office of Gansu Provincial People's Government (hereafter GSFAO). The aim of the programme was to open Gansu Province wider to etc.The Gansu province is located in the northwest of People’s Republic of China. Surrounded by Mongolia, it spans Inner Mongolia, the deserts of Xinjiang and the high mountain wastelands of Tibetan Plateau, it is considered as one the birthplaces of Chinesecivilization. I had heard that Gansu was the least developed province of China. However, my first impressions of the provincial capital Lanzhou and Lanzhou University dispelled most of such notions. The city has an excellent infrastructure and is full of life .. download full report
December 28, 2011-Rountable held on 'Foreign Policy Challenges and Responses' with Amb. B.A Malik. Download Report
December 14,2011-Rountable held on 'Kashmir: A Way Forward' with Dr. Shaheen Akhtar, Research Fellow, Institute of Regional Studies (IRS), Islamabad. Download Report
December 01, 2011-Roundtable conference was held with Prof. Zhou Rong, Chief of South Asia Bureau of the Guang Ming Daily, China on 'China's Perspective: Pak-US relationship'. Download Report
BNU-IRS Roundtable was held on 18 November 2011 at Beacon House National University, Lahore on 'Prospects of Peace in South Asia'. Speaker: Sardar Asef Ahmad Ali, Ex-Foreign Minister Participants: Mr. Sartaj Aziz, Ex-Finance Minister; Dr. Rasul Bakhsh Rais, Professor, Deppt of Social Sciences, LUMS; Mr. Khalid Ahmad, Director, SAFMA;Mr. Pervez Hoodboy; Dr. Hassan Askari; Dr. Mehdi Hassan, BNU, Lahore, Mr. Saleem Bukhari, editor, The Nation, and Mr. Imtiaz Alam, SAFMA
A Roundtable Conference was held on 16 November 2011 at IRS conference room on 'Global Economic Crisis and Pakistan'. Speaker: Dr. Rashid Amjad, VC, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) Download Report
Roundtable was held on 3 November on 'State of Democracy: Challenges in South Asia'. Speaker: Mr. Zia Uddin, Executive Editor, Express Tribune Roundtable was attended by senior researchers of IRS, media persons and other think tanks. Download Report
A Roundtable was held on 2 November 2011 at IRS conference room on 'Afghanistan: An Elusive Peace'. Speaker: Mr. Rahimullah Yusafzai Roundtable was attended by senior researchers of IRS, media persons and other think tanks. Download Report
A Rroundtable was held on 'Pak-India Peace Dialogue: Its Current State and Prospects' on 19 October 2011. Speaker: (Amb) Khalid Mehmood Roundtable was attended by senior researchers of IRS and other think tanks.
October 25, 2011-A Rountable was held on 'Development of China' with Aarish U. Khan, Research Analyst, Instittue of Regional Studies (IRS), Islamabad Download Report
A four member Media Delegation from Turkey visited IRS on 18 October 2011. President IRS welcomed the media delegation and briefed them about the Institute. Both sides exchanged views about Turkey-Pakistan relations. At the end a questions and answers session was held. Roundtable was attended by senior researchersof IRS and other think tanks. Download Report
A Roundtable was held on 'Pak-India Peace Dialogue: Its Current State and Prospects' on 19 October, 2011. Speaker: (Amb) Khalid Mehmood Roundtable was attended by senior researchers of IRS and other think tanks.
The first Roundtable conference under the new president of IRS was held on 14 September 2011 on 'FMCT: Pakistan's Stand and Implications'. Speaker: Dr Zafar Nawaz Jaspal Participants: The participants of the roundtable included: Mr. Ashraf Azim, President Institute of Regional Studies; Brig (Retd) Bashir Ahmed, Senior Fellow Institute of Regional Studies; Amb. Asif Ezdi; Mr. Pierre Mayaudon, Deputy Head of Mission of the European Union delegation to Pakistan; for the United States Institute of Peace; Amb. Khalid Mahmood; Prof. Nazir Hussain, Department of Defense and Strategic Studies, Quaid-e-Azam University; as well as senior researchers from IRS and other think-tanks. Download Report


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