Quarterly Newsletter No. 111 April - June 2021 Quarter in Focus The new year at IPS began with some historic decisions based on critical constitutional changes adopted by the Institute’s Board of Governors: Khalid Rahman has been elected as the Institute’s new chairman, while Professor Khurshid Ahmad will now continue as the Institute’s Patron-in-Chief. Also, two vice-chairmen have been appointed from amongst the Board of Governors to assist the chairman: Former ambassador Syed Abrar Hussain as vice chairman (Academics) and eminent industrialist Abrar Ahmed Magoon as vice chairman (Endowment). IPS delegation meets CPEC Authority’s chairman, Many thought-provoking dialogues on policy gets briefed on progress and challenges issues took place during the period. The salient Pakistan attaches great importance to the President Khalid Rahman, GM Operations amongst them was the exclusive briefing of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a Naufil Shahrukh, senior associates Amanullah Chairman CPEC Authority to the IPS team; a national project, and is ready to pay any price Khan, Mirza Hamid Hasan, Dr Maliha Zeba webinar on security cooperation in the Western for its success. The chairman of the newly Khan, Ambassador (r) Tajammul Altaf, Brigadier Indian Ocean vis-à-vis Aman 2021 naval created CPEC Authority Gen (r) Asim Saleem (r) Said Nazir Mohmand, and members of the exercises; and, the launch of IPS’ study ‘Barriers Bajwa stated this at an exclusive session with a Institute’s research and outreach team including and Drivers of Solar Prosumage: A Case Study of delegation of senior officials and researchers of Shafaq Sarfraz, Asim Ehsan, Kulsoom Belal, Pakistan’ at the NEPRA headquarters in the IPS held at the CPEC Authority’s Secretariat Wali Farooqi, Hafiz Inamullah Khan, Shahid Islamabad. on January 18, 2021. Afzal and Mamoona Mahmood. The Institute’s ongoing ‘Understanding Africa The IPS delegation comprised its Executive Briefing the delegation about the progress on Project’ produced distinct sittings analyzing Continued on Page 03 Pakistan’s relations with North, South and West African countries, apart from holding a special ‘Security Cooperation in the Western Indian Ocean Region’ consultative session at IPS with the Additional Hosting of the sabotage, and maritime policing issues such Secretary (Africa), Ministry of Foreign Affairs. multinational as illegal fishing, smuggling, drugs and human IPS’ Working Group on Kashmir held two richly maritime exercise trafficking, etc. debated sessions urging Pakistan to stay firm in ‘Aman-2021’ This was stressed by maritime experts and its principled stance over Kashmir; while IPS’ reflects Pakistan’s security analysts at a webinar titled ‘Security Chairman Khalid Rahman and the Working intentions for Cooperation in the Western Indian Ocean Group’s General Secretary Farzana Yaqoob building collabora- Region and Significance of AMAN 2021’, which tive maritime was hosted by the IPS on February 4, 2021. voiced similar opinions in two separate sessions security mecha- organized externally. nisms to counter all The session was chaired by Vice Admiral (r) The Institute’s continued focus on maritime affairs Admiral (r) Iftikhar A. Rao sorts of non-tradi- Iftikhar Ahmed Rao, former deputy chief of saw the subject being discussed at the University tional security naval staff, and co-chaired by Khalid Rahman, of Karachi and Federal Urdu University of Arts, threats in the Indian Ocean region, including, chairman, IPS. Dr Maliha Zeba Khan, IPS’ Science and Technology, Karachi in three different but not limited to, growing sea piracy, environ- Research Fellow and assistant professor, mental, cyber and satellite communication National University of Modern Languages sessions as a theme for interdisciplinary research (NUML), moderated the seminar which and higher studies. Continued on Page 03 In addition, two webinars were also organized by IPS during the period on issues related to caste, IPS’ Study ‘Barriers and Drivers of Solar Prosumage’ identity and narratives of ethnonational politics in Sindh. IPS’ researcher Dr Sufi Ghulam Hussain launched at NEPRA also delivered an online talk on the propaganda of Distributed generation through net-metering is The event – jointly forced religious conversions in Pakistan at Brown one of the most effective tools to enable hosted by NEPRA University, USA. renewable power generation at the grassroot and IPS – was The series of oral history sessions related to level and is one of the key focus areas of chaired by governance and public policy, titled ‘The Living NEPRA for meeting increased electricity Chairman NEPRA Scripts’, continued to generate rich content on the demands sustainably. Tauseef Farooqi, subject with another six distinguished veterans This was stated by Chairman NEPRA while co-chaired by from Pakistan's administrative and foreign addressing the launch of a research report by Chairman IPS services. IPS titled ‘Barriers and Drivers of Solar Khalid Rahman, Two new publications hit the racks during the Prosumage: A Case Study of Pakistan’ at and addressed as Tauseef H. Farooqi period, including the latest issue of IPS’ flagship NEPRA headquarters on February 19, 2021. panelists by Dr Continued on Page 03 Continued on Page 02 www ips.org.pk | ipsurdu.com 01 InstituteOfPolicyStudiesPakistan 02 IPS gets new Chairman, Understanding Africa Project two new VCs Based on a few critical constitutional changes adopted by IPS' Board of Governors, former More honorary consuls and ‘Pakistan’s relations with executive president and director general of IPS embassies in Africa need of North African countries’ Khalid Rahman was elected as the Institute's new the hour: Amb Ali Javed Pakistan needs to chairman on January 29, 2021. Rahman has set its focus on replaced Professor Khurshid Ahmad, former bolstering diplomat- senator and founding chairman of the Institute, in ic, economic and the position, who himself has been elevated to the cultural relations with rank of the Institute’s patron-in-chief. North African states The board of governors has also appointed two as the historic ties new vice-chairmen, Former ambassador Syed with them remain Abrar Hussain as vice chairman (Academics) and short of achieving their eminent industrialist Abrar Ahmed Magoon as vice true potential so far. Amb (r) Mushtaq Ali Shah chairman (Endowment), both of whom will be A discussion with Ambassador Ali Javed, Additional The exigency was highlighted in a consultative assisting the new chairman. Secretary for Africa at Pakistan’s Foreign Office, session ‘Pakistan’s relations with North African was held by IPS on February 9, 2021. Chaired by countries’ organized by IPS on January 19, Chairman IPS Khalid Rahman, the session was 2021, which was addressed as keynote speaker held as part of the Institute’s ongoing ‘Understand- by Pakistan’s former envoy to Egypt, Morocco ing Africa’ project. and Tunisia, Ambassador (r) Mushtaq Ali Shah. Emphasizing the need and importance of strength- For further details, visit: ening Pakistan’s footprint in the African continent, https://www.ips.org.pk/pakistans-relations-with-north-african-countries/ the additional secretary informed that MoFA is deliberating to appoint Honorary Consuls to all 54 African states as it has only 14 embassies and nine ‘Pakistan’s relations with Khalid Rahman (Chairman, IPS) operating honorary consuls in the whole African West African countries’ continent at present. Pakistan should For further details, visit: http://www.ips.org.pk/more-honorary-consuls-more-embassies-in-africa-..... make use of its longstanding ‘Pakistan’s relations with relations with West African countries and Southern African countries’ practice effective Pakistan must take economic diplomacy concrete measures to to elevate these ties materialize the recently to new scales. Amb (r) Haroon Shaukat announced ‘Look The need was urged Amb (r) Syed Abrar Hussain (VC, Academics) Africa’ policy in real in a webinar titled terms, said Ambassa- ‘Pakistan’s relations with West African dor (r) Najam-us-Saqib, countries’, which was held by IPS on March 3, Pakistan’s former 2021, to explore opportunities and underline envoy to South Africa, Amb (r) Najam-us-Saqib challenges for Pakistan vis-à-vis West African Brazil, Kenya, countries. The session, which was a part of IPS’ Bangladesh and Cuba, at a webinar titled ‘Understanding Africa’ program, was addressed as ‘Pakistan’s relations with Southern African keynote speaker by Ambassador (r) Haroon Shaukat. countries’ held at IPS on February 2, 2021. For further details, visit: For further details, visit: http://www.ips.org.pk/economic-diplomacy-urged-to-strengthen-pak- http://www.ips.org.pk/pakistans-relations-with-southern-african-countries/ relations-with-west-africa/ Abrar Ahmed Magoon (VC, Endowment) Curriculum on Maritime Affairs proposed to FUUAST Continued from Page - 01 Widespread sea blindness especially in (NUML), academia owing to the prevalent continental Islamabad, IPS IPS’ Study ‘Barriers.... mindset warrants the need for having maritime LEAD Associate affairs as a subject in the curriculum of Ikram-ul-Haque Sardar Mohazzam, Managing Director, National international relations at higher education level. Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority Syed and (NEECA), Bahadur Shah, Member (M&E), The need was stressed in an online session Manager organized by IPS in collaboration with the NEPRA, Mirza Hamid Hasan, Chairman, IPS’ Outreach International Relations Department of Federal Shafaq Sarfraz, Steering Committee