By: Aslam Chandio from Islamabad, Pakistan
Two-Day International Conference “The Global Strategic Environment in the Post-2014 Era and Pakistan” organized by School of Politics and International Relations (SPIR), Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad And Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) started in Islamabad on Thursday.
Minister of State for Federal Education, Training and Standards in Higher Education, Muhammad Baligh-Ur-Rehman while inaugurating the conference said that the year 2014 and post 2014 era are very important for Pakistan and no one can live in isolation.
“Pakistan’s location is very important. The NATO, Russia and Chinese presence and regional dimensions cannot be ignored or missed and might have substantial consequences for the country. Pakistan still faces jihadists challenge, extremists thoughts in the name of the religion, losses and deaths, we have to fight and launch operations to avoid greater disaster, such as operation Zarb-e-Azb,” said the Minister.
Dr. Zafar Nawaz Jaspal, Director, School of Politics and International Relations, QAU, formally welcomed the participants and thanked the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) for funding the conference and supporting the initiative. He briefed the audience regarding the activities and contribution of School of Politics and International Relations in constructive research in the field of domestic politics and in international affairs.
Ronny Heine, KAS Representative in Pakistan briefed the audience about the Konrad Adeneur Stiftung, Germany. He said that KAS is named after the first Chancellor of Germany who laid political foundation of the system. It operates in 80 countries, and opened its office in Islamabad in 2008. Ronny Heine said that Pakistan’s role is very crucial in global strategic environment especially in post 2014 era cannot be undermined.
Prof. Dr. Javed Ashraf, Vice Chancellor Quaid-i-Azam University, said that Pakistan’s geo political position in world at large, one cannot avoid the role of the country in regional and global politics.
“In a rapidly changing world where two powers are neighboring us such as China and India, we need to address issues which can uplift our political status” he added.
He congratulated School of Politics and International Relations (SPIR) and (KAS) for organizing the successful conference to deliberate upon such important topic and subject.
Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, Chairman, Senate Defence Committee and Dr. Syed Rifaat Hussain, chaired the sessions titled “Global Geo-Strategic Environment in Post 2014” and “Euro-Atlantic Perspective and Pakistan” respectively.
Dr. Zafar Nawaz Jaspal, Director, School of Politics and International Relations, QAU Islamabad, Dr. Peter Lavoy, Former US Assistant Secretary of Defense, Mr. Hiroshi INOMATA, Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan, Prof. Dr. Hasan Askari Rizvi, Mr. Thomas Williams, Deputy Chief of Mission Embassy of The United States, Islamabad, Prof. Dr. Florian Kühn, Institute for International Politics, Hamburg University, Germany, Prof. Dr. Peter Neumann, Kings College, London, presented their papers on the first day of the conference.
Aslam Chandio is an Islamabad based journalist. He tweets at @aslamchandio_