Current Projects
Pentagon Fights Wars to Please Military Industrial Complex
By: Imtiaz Gul In his press conference on Sept 7, President Donald Trump – the commander Pentagon Fights Wars to Please Military Industrial Complex -in-chief of the US forces – laid bare what none of his predecessors did; in unequivocal terms, Trump called out the Pentagon for “wanting to fight wars to please the companies producing military hardware. “I’m not saying the military is in love with me; the soldiers are. The top people in the Pentagon probably aren’t because they want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy.” With this Trump reminded the Americans as well as the rest of the world of what audience what one of his predecessors – President Dwight Eisenhower had spelt out as the creeping danger to the American society i.e. the imilitary industrial complex (MIC). In his farewell address on January 17, 1961, Eisenhower cautioned the nation in the following words: A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction…This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. The total influence—economic, political, even spiritual—is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military–industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist. Trump’s presser came on the heels of an announcement by Marine General Kenneth McKenzie, head of U.S. Central...
Ulasi Taroon Showcase: Educational Governance Challenges and Youth Development
The 114th radio program as part of the Center for Research and Security Studies’ (CRSS) counter-radicalization initiative Ulasi Taroon (Social Cohesion) discussed the importance of educational governance for youth development. Educational governance refers to the provision, regulation and implementation of education systems at different levels; local, regional, national and supranational. It is key to the progress and efficiency of the system of education. The first guest on show, Mr. Saeed Khan, Lecturer of Political Science, FATA University, noted that Article 25A of the constitution of Pakistan binds the state to provide free and compulsory education to all children between the ages of five to sixteen years. This constitutional provision serves as a foundation to the system of educational governance and key to the regulation and the implementation of an inclusive system of education. Besides ensuring the practical implementation, the good educational governance must also be characterized by accountability, transparency and responsiveness. There is a significant evidence in the contemporary scholarship about how the level of education in the society can serve as the most critical resource for economic growth and democratic development. The educational policies should be considerate of the social cohesion needs of the country as an attempt to create a critical mass of future leaders as catalysts for peace and development. The second guest on show, Ms. Farishta Noor, Ulasi Taroon Alumna and a student of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Peshawar, said that Ulasi Taroon was a great opportunity to network with students from diverse backgrounds, and engage a range of different issues key to social cohesion through dialogue; one of the most essential skill that a democracy needs. There is a dire need to promote basic and higher education in the tribal areas, as a panacea to conflict, and to develop their inherent potential for growth and development....
Ulasi Taroon Showcase: Educational Governance Challenges and Youth Development
The 114th radio program as part of the Center for Research and Security Studies’ (CRSS) counter-radicalization initiative Ulasi Taroon (Social Cohesion) discussed the importance of educational governance for youth development. Educational governance refers to the provision, regulation and implementation of education systems at different levels; local, regional, national and supranational. It is key to the progress and efficiency of the system of education. The first guest on show, Mr. Saeed Khan, Lecturer of Political Science, FATA University, noted that Article 25A of the constitution of Pakistan binds the state to provide free and compulsory education to all children between the ages of five to sixteen years. This constitutional provision serves as a foundation to the system of educational governance and key to the regulation and the implementation of an inclusive system of education. Besides ensuring the practical implementation, the good educational governance must also be characterized by accountability, transparency and responsiveness. There is a significant evidence in the contemporary scholarship about how the level of education in the society can serve as the most critical resource for economic growth and democratic development. The educational policies should be considerate of the social cohesion needs of the country as an attempt to create a critical mass of future leaders as catalysts for peace and development. The second guest on show, Ms. Farishta Noor, Ulasi Taroon Alumna and a student of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Peshawar, said that Ulasi Taroon was a great opportunity to network with students from diverse backgrounds, and engage a range of different issues key to social cohesion through dialogue; one of the most essential skill that a democracy needs. There is a dire need to promote basic and higher education in the tribal areas, as a panacea to conflict, and to develop their inherent potential for growth and development....
Ulasi Taroon Workshops Hone Youth’s Peacebuilding Potential
The latest rounds of Ulasi Taroon Online Youth Capacity Building Workshops discussed the topics of “Peacebuilding and Conflict Resolution”, “Diversity and Quaid's Vision”, and “Art, Culture and Social Cohesion” during the tenth, eleventh and twelfth rounds, respectively, with around 60 youth leaders from different public and private sector universities across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The veteran actor Firdous Jamal, while speaking during the twelfth round, noted that the need for communication and dialogue is greater than ever in the times of conflict and disagreement. Only by the culture of dialogue, can we prevent and resolve conflicts. The ability to articulate one’s point of view is extremely essential to resolve misunderstandings and live in harmony with each other. Being articulate – communicating effectively – is a critical soft skill for conflict resolution of peaceful coexistence. Culture is the reflection of a society. The culture of Pakistan is known around the world for its hospitality, cooperation and exceptional resilience in the times of crises. As responsible citizens, we should all portray the positive sides of Pakistan that make us proud and we should all celebrate and promote. Intercultural interactions are critical to harness cultural diversity as a connector, and for shared goals of peace and prosperity. It can also help developing the much-needed social capital for cohesion and development. While we should keep our culture alive, we should also be open to adopt the best practices of other cultures. The Ambassador of Pakistan to Kuwait, Syed Sajjad Haider, noted during the eleventh round that Quaid-e-Azam - with his vision for Pakistan - believed in a democratic country with inclusive and impartial government, religious freedom, rule of law and equality for all. He always stressed upon tolerance and mutual respect regardless of different backgrounds of people. We can also develop in synch with the developed countries around the world through...
Pak-Afghan Youth Webinar – Exploring Avenues of Cross-Collaboration in Culture and Art between Afghanistan and Pakistan
As part of its efforts to bridge the gap between the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) – in collaboration with its sister organization Afghan Studies Center – organized a Pak-Afghan Youth Webinar on the theme “Exploring Avenues of Cross-Collaboration in Culture and Art between Afghanistan and Pakistan” on August 20, 2020. The panelists invited were Ms. Sahraa Karimi, film director and Director General, Afghan Film, Afghanistan and Ms. Simi Raheel, a seasoned artist/actor and development professional Pakistan. The webinar was moderated by CRSS’ Program Director of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Track 1.5/II initiative Beyond Boundaries, Zeeshan Salahuddin, and attended by 37 young Afghans and Pakistanis from both countries. In his opening remarks, Beyond Boundaries’ Project Lead, Zeeshan Salahuddin, welcomed and introduced the panelists to the attendees from both countries. Expounding on the theme in focus, he stated that in the current era, collaborations between both countries in the field of art, cultural promotions, sports, literature, and drama, are missing. To pursue working on these avenues, CRSS felt the need to engage prominent personalities with vast experience in these fields to share their insights and propose ideas on future collaborations to strengthen the people-to-people contact and portray a soft image of both countries to each other and the world. In her keynote speech, Karimi, Afghanistan’s first female with a PhD in film, recalled that before visiting Pakistan in 2019, she held a very different perception of the country due to its negative portrayal in the media and the political unrest between Kabul and Islamabad. Unfortunately, due to the strained state-to-state relations, both countries could not get the opportunity to collaborate and cooperate in cultural or art exchanges. She expressed her excitement over the abundance of talent present in both countries and was optimistic that if the youth of...
Strategic Sideline Meeting of Pakistan PAJC Members
As part of its efforts to improve Pakistan-Afghanistan relations under its ongoing Track 1.5/II initiative ‘Beyond Boundaries’, CRSS convened a strategic sideline meeting of the Pakistani PAJC members on August 17, 2020, at Serena Hotel Islamabad. The agenda of the meeting focused on i) COVID-19 pandemic’s shocking downturn in Pakistan, and its effects on bilateral issues, both political and economic, ii) The impact of the newly opened crossing points for bilateral and transit trade and the movement of people and goods, iii) Significance of the appointment of the Special Representatives for Pakistan and Afghanistan, how to best leverage this development and improve ties, iv) Ongoing developments in the Afghan peace process and intra-Afghan dialogue, potential outcome scenarios in the coming months, and their impact, and v) Security situation across Afghanistan and Pakistan leading into the tail end of 2020. Members included Mehnaz Akber Aziz, Member National Assembly; Dr. Shoaib Suddle, Former IG Police and former Federal Tax Ombudsman; Lt. Gen. (retd) Asif Yasin Malik, Former Defense Secretary; Former Ambassadors Ayaz Wazir, Qazi Humayun, Asif Durrani, and Mian Sanaullah; Ammara Durrani, public policy and human security expert and Tahir Khan, senior journalist and anchorperson GTV News. CRSS was represented by Executive Director Imtiaz Gul, Beyond Boundaries’ project leader Zeeshan Salahuddin, CRSS Program Manager Junaid Khan, and CRSS Program Coordinator, Sitwat Waqar Bokhari. Welcoming the members, Executive Director Imtiaz Gul presented an overview of the challenges being currently faced in bilateral relations and invited the members to share their insights on their resolution. One of the critical challenges, besides those arising from COVID-19 pandemic, that requires immediate attention and a policy appraisal, he stated, is the slow scanning of the containers, non-availability of trackers and the issue of insurance has led to the stranding of over 9000 trade...
[China Watch] A Brief History of China
Today, China is known to the world for its economic, military and technological might. According to the Lowy Institute, a think tank based in Sydney, Australia, China is an emerging global superpower and a superpower in Asia. In Nikkei Asia Review, Jacques Attali, who served as a counsellor to French President Francois Mitterrand and the first head of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, writes: “China is already a major military power, and in five years will be as militarily powerful in the Western Pacific as the U.S. is in the Eastern.” He says, “It has world-class companies; it is the world leader in many of the technologies of the future, including artificial intelligence. It has the world’s largest reserves of many strategic materials. It has considerable financial reserves.” But China’s image as a leader in the world’s economy is not recent. The country counts itself among the four ancient civilisations with historic records dating back over 3,000 years. It is said that China’s earliest rulers were from the Xia Dynasty who remained in power from 2100 to 1600BC, but there is not much proof about the existence of the dynasty. Shang Dynasty According to recorded history, however, it was the Shang who ruled the earliest Chinese state, comprising today’s Henan, Anhui, Shandong, Hubei and Shanxi provinces. Shang Dynasty is discussed in the Book of Documents, Bamboo Annals and Records of the Grand Historian – the earliest compilation of the history of Ancient China. Historians differ on how old the Shang Dynasty is. Some say it was founded in the 18th century BC while others believe it was 16 century BC. However, what is confirmed is that the dynasty thrived during the Bronze Age. Thousands of bronze artefacts from the ruins of Yin, the last capital of the Shang, located near present-day Anyang in Henan province, were unearthed. Vessels used in ritual ceremonies, as well as chariots and axes that have been discovered, were all made of bronze....
Ulasi Taroon Showcase: Crises, Mental Health and Peaceful Coexistence
The 113th radio program as part of the Center for Research and Security Studies’ (CRSS) counter-radicalization initiative Ulasi Taroon (Social Cohesion) discussed the importance of mental health to battle the crises like COVID pandemic and for overall state of cohesion in the society. The first guest on show, Ms. Sadia Shafique, a psychiatrist by profession, explained that according to the World Health Organization definition, health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Access to health services is one of the fundamental human rights without any distinction of race, religion, socio-economic or political background. Mental health is as important as physical health, but unfortunately, it remains widely under-reported due to the social stigma attached to mental health disorders, where limited number of psychiatry services further multiply the problem. Every crisis has a profound effect on the mental health of people and COVID-19 is no different where it has inflicted a mass scale trauma. One of the drivers of trauma during this pandemic is rampant misinformation and fallacies regarding COVID-19 which are stocking public fears. Paying attention to these mental health issues is critical to peace and coexistence and requires cooperation of both individuals and state. The marginalized groups in the society are more vulnerable during a crisis, therefore, the mental health services should be considerate their special needs. Only a mentally healthy society can accept and make the full use of the colors of diversity, see it as an opportunity and coexist peacefully. The second guest on show, Ms. Maria Akhtar, a journalist by profession, noted that the right to health and other related provisions are explicitly enshrined in the Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Therefore, Pakistan, as a matter of its national and international commitment, should prioritize the health services...
The Art of Reasoning and Critical Thinking – Understanding Fallacies | CRSS Ulasi Taroon Workshop
“The only safeguard against reasoning ill is the habit of reasoning well; familiarity with the principles of correct reasoning, and practice in applying those principles” (John Stuart Mill). This was quoted by Dr. Shuja Ahmad, Chairman, Department of Philosophy, University of Peshawar, while setting the keynote for his presentation on critical thinking and the art of reasoning. He noted that critical thinking is about using logic and critical inquiry to gather and connect the available information and draw inferences. It helps processing the information more effectively to be able to draw logical conclusions. This kind of thinking is also called the process of reasoning where an argument is an expression of reasoning in words. Making arguments with reasoning devoid of logic and critical thinking represents bad reasoning and flaw in an argument means flaw in the reasoning and thinking. Training in logic and critical thinking enables us to construct and objectively evaluate arguments, differentiate good reasoning from bad reasoning, identify relevance of ideas, and think correctly and clearly. Normally we do not question ourselves but with this skillset, not only just others but one also starts reflecting on the justification of ones’ own ideas, theories, and values. This stage can be termed as the culmination of critical thinking. It is also the best and most democratic way to get someone to come around to your point of view i.e. through making good arguments and dialogue instead of forcefully imposing your views on others. This process of reasoning with critical thinking at the core can help solving problems in a systematic manner and critical to complex problem solving. According to California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory, a tool to measure the disposition to engage problems and make decisions using critical thinking, there are seven habits essential to critical thinking, such as: i) Truth-Seeking; by challenging the known and finding the unknown to...
Strategic Sideline Meeting: The First Steps towards a Bilateral Women-led Caucus
With the goal of creating a Pakistan-Afghanistan women-led parliamentary caucus to work on bilateral issues of import, CRSS convened a strategic sideline meeting of Pakistani women parliamentarians in Islamabad on July 27. A similar meeting of Afghan women parliamentarians was held virtually on July 25, 2020. This endeavor is part of CRSS’ efforts to improve Pakistan-Afghanistan bilateral relations under its ongoing Track 1.5/II Beyond Boundaries (BB) initiative. The bilateral caucus was a recurrent recommendation in BB’s recent women-led conferences where delegates stressed on instituting a formal mechanism to work on raising the issues faced by women on both sides of the border, complete with solutions and relevant policy recommendations. Most recently, this need was reiterated by female Member of National Assembly (MNA) Mehnaz Akber Aziz and Member Afghan Parliament Ms. Shinkai Karokhail during a virtual women-led conference organized by CRSS (in partnership with OESP) on June 15, 2020. Besides MNA Aziz from Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN), attendees of the moot included female Senator Rubina Khalid from Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), female MNAs Nafisa Shah (PPP), and other females from the ruling Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) party MNA Shaheen Saifullah, MNA Shandana Gulzar, MNA Uzma Riaz Jadoon, and MNA Zille Huma. CRSS was represented by member of CRSS’ advisory board Sameena Imtiaz; BB’s project lead Zeeshan Salahuddin, BB Economic Connectivity (EC) Program Manager Junaid Raja, Program Manager for Afghan Studies Center (ASC), Sitwat Waqar Bokhari, and BB’s M&E specialist Mustafa Malik. As an initial sideline meeting, discussion between the members of parliament focused on the objectives, vision, and scope of the proposed bilateral caucus. In her opening speech, MNA Aziz, who had also been a consistent core member of CRSS’ bilateral dialogues of Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Committee (PAJC), stated that while the initiative should be a women-led...
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I am also a member of National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting. Recently, we held a meeting with the Director General of Radio Pakistan and we told them to initiate such local programs (like Constituency Hour) in regional languages to educate and inform people. Even Indian Radio can be heard in FATA which is being used for propaganda purposes and must be closed. Therefore, we should launch some standard and quality programs like CRSS that will change the taste of the listeners.