The Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) in Islamabad signed a milestone agreement with the COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) on Friday. The collaboration will help facilitate the Pakistan Center for Excellence (PACE) program that CRSS is launching in February, 2016. Under the agreement, CIIT will generously extend human resource and logistical support to PACE.

CRSS Executive Director Imtiaz Gul with CIIT Rector Dr. S. M. Junaid Zaidi.

PACE is a CRSS CVE initiative, designed to trigger critical thinking through a discourse anchored in fundamental global values such as socio-political diversity, tolerance, rule of law and equal citizenry. The concept of PACE sprang from nearly a decade of CRSS team’s research and advocacy experience in radicalization and extremism, and security studies.

PACE will prepare a cadre of future leaders who will be trained in critical concepts such as equal citizenry, fundamentals of democracy, respect for fundamental human rights, good governance, and tolerance for diversity and opinions as the basic principle for rationalizing the dialogue on extremist ideologies and dissecting the causes of socio-political polarization.