KCL-NUST Conference on Pakistan Elections 2013
24th June 2013
Edmond J. Safra Lecture Theatre
King's College London
The conference is a joint effort by the department of War Studies at King's College London and the National
University of Science and Technology, Islamabad. The two panels will discuss what are the implications of
the domestic and foreign policies of the newly elected government for Pakistan and the region.
Thematically, the conference will gravitate around three core policy issues: how will the new government
deal with
1. domestic issues including power shortages, ethnic divisions and socioeconomic factors as well as
the domestic political effects of the use of drones by USA,
2. Afghanistan, especially with ISAF withdrawal in sight,
3. tensions with the US and ISAF including the issue of drones.
The format of the conference is that of two panels of expert analysts and academics discussing over a
video-conference link, each with its own chair guiding the debate. One panel will sit at KCL in London and
will be chaired by Professor Anatol Lieven; the other panel will sit at NUST, Islamabad, and will be chaired
by Syed Talat Hussain. The format of the event is that of a semi-structured debate, not unlike the BBC's
Question Time, where panellists in turn offer contributions to the debate. There will be an opportunity for
audience to also ask questions from both panels.
The event will be on the record. You are welcome to take notes, record or cite with appropriate attribution.
Furthermore, selected interventions from the debate and selected transcriptions will be made available as
primary material for public use on the KCL War Studies blog Strife (www.strifeblog.org) and Kings Of War
blog (http://kingsofwar.org.uk) so as to facilitate dissemination of the discussions in the conference. Strife
and Kings of War are open-source and under a Creative Commons license, which means that you can cite
and republish as long as you attribute the original publication. Please do contact us should you wish for a
complete recording of the event.
All are welcome, no booking required. Seating will be allocated on a first come basis. Please do contact us
(pablo.de_orellana@kcl.ac.uk) should you wish for any further information or details.
PARTICIPANTS
KCL, debate chair, Anatol Lieven is a British author, journalist, and policy analyst. He is presently a Senior
Researcher (Bernard L. Schwartz fellow and American Strategy Program fellow) at the New America
Foundation, where he focuses on US global strategy and the War on Terrorism, Associated Scholar of the
Transnational Crisis Project, Chair of International Relations and Terrorism Studies at King's College London.
Between 2000 and 2005, he was a Senior Associate for Foreign and Security policy at the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace. Previously a journalist with the Financial Times covering Central
Europe, with The Times (London) covering Pakistan, Afghanistan, the formerSoviet Union,
and Russia (including the First Chechen War), and wrote from India as a freelancer. He has also served as an
editor at the International Institute for Strategic studies in London, where he worked for the Eastern
Services of the BBC. He received a B.A. in history and a doctorate in political science from Jesus College,
Cambridge.
KCL-NUST Conference on Pakistan Elections 2013
NUST panel members:
Syed Talat Hussain Naqvi is a Pakistani journalist, foreign policy commentator and television personality.
He is the primary anchor, as well as executive producer, of the current affairs show Live with Talat which is
primary on air by the Express News. He has written for Newsline, Daily Dawn, Time Magazine, Daily Times
(Pakistan), Daily Express and India Today. During the latest Pakistani elections Hussain travelled extensively
through Pakistani constituencies and spoke with voters from all walks of life.
Dr. Ashfaq Husain Khan is currently the Dean and Professor, NUST Business School, National University of
Sciences & Technology (NUST), Islamabad. He has been the Special Secretary Finance/Director General,
Debt Office of the Ministry of Finance, Islamabad. He is also the Director and Vice Chairman of Saudi Pak
Industrial and Agricultural Investment Company Ltd. (A joint venture of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan) and
Director of the United Bank Limited (Representing government’s shares in the Bank). Dr.Khan holds a Ph.D
degree in economics from Johns Hopkins University in USA. He joined the Pakistan Institute of
Development Economics (PIDE) in 1979 as Research Economist, and was Joint Director of the Institute
before being appointed Economic Adviser of the Ministry of Finance in March 1998. In January 2003 he was
appointed Director General of the Debt Office of the Ministry of Finance and Special Secretary Finance/
Director General, Debt Office in July 2007.
Maj Gen (R) Baz Ali Khan is a retired senior military officer. Gen (R) Khan was Chief Instructor at the War
Wing of National Defence University Islamabad from 2001 to 2002. After this, he joined the Ministry of
Defence as Additional Secretary for three years. Gen Khan retired from the Pakistan Army in 2005 and in
2006 he was appointed as the Pakistani Ambassador to Indonesia. After serving for three years, in 2009
Gen (R) Khan was appointed as Principal of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies at the National
University for Science and Technology. Gen (R) Khan specialises in National defence, diplomatic and
strategic studies of Pakistan.
Saleem Safi (TBC) is a Pakistani geostrategist, foreign policy commentator, and talk show anchor. He has
hosted various current affairs programmes in channels such as PTV News, the Pashto-language AVT
Khyber and is currently serving as the host of GEO News talk show Jirga. Safi has written columns for the
Daily Jang and The Pakistan Herald. Safi is the author of Afghanistan, Taliban, Osama and the role of
Pakistan's religious parties.