Management
Research Team
Mr. Imtiaz Gul
Executive Director
Imtiaz Gul, is currently the Executive Director of the Islamabad-based independent Centre for Research and Security Studies that he founded in December 2007, with the support of Germany’s Heinrich Boell Stiftung. The Centre is a research and advocacy outfit, focused primarily on security, radicalization and governance.
Gul has presented papers at international Security and Counter-Terror Conferences in Brussels, Berlin, New Delhi, Kabul New York, Washington, the Hague, Riyadh, Italy, Oslo.
Gul is a member of the Bellagio Forum, Milan , initiative for the establishment of a UN University for Peace and Social Studies.
Selected for a 2-month Asia Leaders Fellowship Programm ( by International House of Japan and Japanese Studies and Intellectual Exchange Dept. the Japan Foundation Japan (beginning Sept 2011).
Books
Gul’s fourth book Pakistan : Before and After Osama bin Laden, Roli Books, India, September, 2012)
Penguin US/UK published his third book “The Most Dangerous Place– Pakistan’s Lawless Frontier” in June, 2010
Penguin-Viking India published Gul’s second book “The Al-Qaeda Connection –Taliban and Terror in Tribal Areas” on August 20, 2009, which profiles the evolution and nature of militancy in the Pak-Afghan border regions and how it fell under the influence of Al-Qaeda
Gul had published his first book ” The Unholy Nexus; Pak-Afghan relations under the Taliban,” in July 2002, and also edited a book on ” Islam and Liberalism”, soon after the U.S-led coalition unleashed the controversial War Against Terrorism in October 2001
Journalistic Career
Besides reporting for the Urdu, English and Hindi language services of Deutsche Welle, Germany’s foreign languages’ broadcaster between 1989- 2009, Imtiaz Gul has also been broadcasting with the CNN TV between 1998 – 2000, and with the Hong Kong-based Star World TV, Japanese National Broadcasting Corporation NHK, the National Public Radio in the United States, and also regularly files for
Foreign Policy, USA
Wall Street Journal
The Friday Times (weekly)Lahore
Pulse (weekly), Islamabad,
Daily Express Tribune,
on issues such as militancy, border regions, Afghanistan, and Indo-Pak relations. Besides offering advice as consultant to foreign diplomatic missions and development sector organisations, Gul regularly appears as an analyst / expert on several Pakistani TV channels as well as the Doha-based Al-Jazeera English/Arabic satellite tv channel for his expertise in areas such as Afghanistan/Tribal Areas/ and the Kashmir militancy, which he has been extensively covering since 1988.
For reporting and paper presentations, event coverage and conferences, Imtiaz Gul has traveled extensively across the globe including trips to the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands, U.K, Italy, Spain, Rumania, Hungary, Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Russia, India, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Norway , Denmark, Japan, Palestine, Egypt, Libya, the U.A.E.
Languages
Gul is fluent in English, German, Pashto, Urdu, Punjabi and Dari. more about Mr. Imtiaz Gul
Richard Barrett
Senior Research Fellow
Richard Barrett is an expert on violent extremism; in particular on groups that draw their inspiration from al-Qaida. He is also an expert on Afghanistan and Pakistan, and on the broader problems of militancy in Muslim majority countries.
Since April 2013 he has been a Senior Vice President at The Soufan Group, a consultancy that advises Governments and private sector clients on security and political risk. He is also a National Security Fellow at the New America Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute in Washington that looks at the next generation of challenges facing the United States. He is also an Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London which performs a similar function in the United Kingdom. He is an Adjunct Professor at Case Western Reserve University and a member of various international working groups and boards, including of the International Centre for Counter Terrorism – The Hague, and the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation in Washington.
From March 2004 to December 2012, Richard Barrett was Coordinator of the Al-Qaida and Taliban Monitoring Team at the United Nations in New York. The Team was established by the United Nations Security Council to assist it in dealing with the threats to international peace and security posed by Al-Qaida, the Taliban and other associated groups and entities.
In 2005 he helped establish a system-wide United Nations working group on terrorism which became the United Nations Counter Terrorism Implementation Task Force following the adoption of a Global Strategy to Counter Terrorism by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2006. Within the Task Force, he led on radicalisation and de-radicalisation issues and on terrorist use of the Internet, and remains an adviser to its Director.
Before joining the United Nations, Richard Barrett worked for the British Government in the Security Service, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Secret Intelligence Service, where he was in charge of counter terrorism before and after the attacks in the United States in September 2001. He has served in Canada, Jordan, Turkey, and at the United Kingdom Mission to the United Nations in New York.
Richard Barrett has appeared frequently on television and radio and is the author of several book chapters, articles and commentaries including op-eds for The Guardian, The New York Times, The Financial Times and The International Herald Tribune.
Richard Barrett has a masters degree in Modern History and Italian Literature from Oxford University.
Mr Mohammad Nafees
Visiting Research Fellow
For the last three years, Mr Nafees has been working as a statistical analyst and Freelance Journalist. His columns have appeared in the following print and on-line media: Print Media: The Daily Times, The Express Tribune, The News, and The Financial Daily. On-line Media: Viewpoint and Newsline. For more than four years, he has been collecting data on different social and political issues such as terrorism, Desecration of Holy Places in Pakistan by the terrorists, Victims of blasphemy accusations and violence against women. Different organizations have used the data collected by Mr Nafees, such as, Brookings Institute, Washington D.C., Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy (AIRRA), Islamabad, Central Asia Online, and Citizens for Democracy. He has been a regular participant of the local social, political, and cultural activities for more than 4 decades.
Ms. Nabeela Jaffer
Research Fellow
She has M. Phil in Defence and Strategic Studies from Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. Her research interests include governance and security issues of Pakistan. She has also keen interest in conflict resolution studies.
Mr. Farooq Yousaf
Research Analyst / Programme Consultant
Mr. Farooq Yousaf is working as a research analyst, marketing consultant and content editor at the Center for Research and Security Studies, Islamabad. Along with that, he also writes for major news sources such as The Express Tribune, The News Blog, Daily Times, The News Tribe and Pakistan Observer. He is also currently pursuing his Higher Studies in Public Policy and Conflict Studies from Germany.
Yousaf pioneered SMS and Telemarketing in the Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa province to reach the audience in remote areas of Pakistan. Besides CRSS, one of the CRSS partners, Inter News Pakistan, also adopted this means of marketing for their joint project “Lara Da Kor” (Path towards home) that was designed for the conflict-hit regions in the northwest. At CRSS, Farooq formulates the awareness, communications and PR strategies, edits the center’s documents, and is also responsible for managing the CRSS website and online activity.
Nouman ALI Mirza
Research Analyst/ Program Consultant
Nouman joined CRSS, with the past experience in the Corporate Sector, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Moreover, he worked as a lecturer in Millennium Institute of Technology and Management (MITM), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Nouman has completed his Masters in Business Administration from COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad with his graduation from Punjab University, Lahore.
Currently, in CRSS, his research areas include the prevailing social, educational and political situations in Pakistan.
Ms. Sobia Ahmad Kaker
Visiting Research Fellow
Sobia is pursuing her Ph.D in at the University of Newcastle, UK and holds a post graduate degree in Global Politics from London School of Economics. She has more than five years of research experience, and considerable teaching experience in local and international institutions. Her research interests and expertise include global politics, urban conflict and violence, local and global security, state building, and governance issues.
Shams Momand
Senior Producer
Mr. Shams Mohmand is working as a Senior Producer at CRSS Peshawar-office under the direct supervision of Executive Director and Director Finance/Administration. He is a senior journalist, writer, columnist and he has written three books. He has also worked with SAMA TV and with various social sector organizations. He hosted different TV talk shows at AVT Khyber, SAMA TV, and PTV and remained as a correspondent with DAWN and Reuters.
Aqil Yousafzai
Mentoring Officer
Mr. Aqil Yousafzai is a senior journalist, analyst, writer and columnist. He got more than twenty years of experience in the field of journalism and has written several books on terrorism and other contemporary issues. He has worked as a correspondent with DPA, as a researcher in Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies (PIPS). He is a contributor in different international and national magazines, newspapers, and is a winner of different national and international awards.
He is working as a Mentoring Officer at CRSS Peshawar-office.
Asma Ali
Associate Producer
Asma Ali is working as an Associate Producer at CRSS Peshawar-office. In the past, she has worked with BBC Life Line project, PACT radio, WHO and various social sector organizations and newspapers.
She has Masters in Journalism and Mass Communication form University of Peshawar, Pakistan.
Shah Nawaz Khan
Associate Producer
Shah Nawaz Khan is working as an Associate Producer. He has experience of reporting issues of terrorism for more than four years from SWAT, Malakand and DIR and he has also worked with different radio stations.
He has Masters in Journalism and Mass Communication form University of Peshawar, Pakistan.
Finance/Admin
Mr. Munawar Ahmed Virk
Director Finance, Administration & HR
Mr. Munawar Ahmed Virk brings with him a combined professional and industry background gained from over 15 years of experience in financial analysis‚ internal audit‚ accounting and risk management in both the profit and non-profit sectors. Prior to joining CRSS‚ Mr. Virk was working as the Chief Financial Officer in Dynamic Crop Sciences (Pvt.) Ltd., one of the largest companies operating in the agriculture sector, where he was responsible for import, manufacturing, distribution and liaison with the government regulatory bodies. Mr. Virk has also worked with Pakistan’s largest cellular company Mobilink, Pepsi Cola International and United States Agency for International Development (USAID). He has also worked and trained with M/s. A.F. Furguson & Co, which is the highest ranking Chartered Accounting firm in Pakistan.
In his current role‚ he is responsible for the financial, administrative and human resource operations of CRSS. He also provides executive administrative support to the offices of Chairman and Executive Director of the organization. He is married and lives in Islamabad.
Asad Ehsan
Finance & Admin Officer
Asad Ehsan is MBA from SZABIST University, Islamabad. He is working at CRSS as a Finance & Admin Officer since 2009, under the direct supervision of Director Finance & Administration. He is responsible for the financial, administrative and human resource operations of the organization.
Muhammad Alyas
Finance, Admin Executive
Ilyas has done Bachelor of commerce from University of Peshawar. He has experience as a Finance Officer for more than one year. Moreover, he has worked as a Data Management & Technical Officer with different private organizations. He is working under the supervision of Director Finance & Administration and is responsible for Financial & Administrative operations at CRSS-Peshawar office
Muhammad Naseem Khan
Technical Coordinator
Naseem is working as a Technical Coordinator under the supervision of Director Finance/ Administration and Senior Producer for last two years at CRSS-Peshawar office.
He has worked with several private radio stations and has done Diploma of Associate Engineering and Bachelor of Arts.
