Prominent religious scholars, representing various schools of thought, pledged to strive for a peaceful and tolerant society in Pakistan. They emphasized that differences of opinion should not be used as a channel to engender hatred and hostilities among the people. They agreed that discouraging all sorts of violent tendencies in society was a collective responsibility. … Read more
Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) in collaboration with the Islamic Relief Pakistan (IRP), organized a two day training workshop entitled “Raising Awareness on Kashmir Conflict and Exploring Opportunities for Peace Building,” on 29-30 March 2011. The participants and panelists noted that being a flashpoint between two nuclear rivals of South Asian region finding a … Read more
Abdul Basit, a researcher at PIPS, attended a regional workshop organized by Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation on ‘preventing abuse of the non-profit sector for the purposes of terrorist financing’ held at Bangkok, Thailand from 21-23 March 2011. He represented Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs) sector of Pakistan in the meeting. The workshop was attended by NPO … Read more
The recent spate of popular unrest and uprisings in the Arab world has generated a number of binary views among the masses who consider it a revolution, since for the first time in the history of Middle East people have raised their voices against the repressive and authoritarian ruling regimes. However, notwithstanding popular sentiments which … Read more
Conflicting perceptions of the traditional religious forces and secular moderate circles have confused the course of determining national identity for Pakistan. Soon after establishment of Pakistan the moderate ruling elites started to provide space to religious elites due to one reason or the other. The Soviet-Afghan war and the Zia regime offered some legal and … Read more
Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) launched an initiative aimed at enhancing bilateral media contacts and co-operation between Afghan and Pakistani journalists and media organisation by holding Afghanistan-Pakistan Media Dialogue at Kabul on February 21-22, 2011. PIPS has partnered with The Killid Group (TKG) of Afghanistan to improve co-operation between the electronic and print media … Read more
Pak Institute for Peace Studies conducted a roundtable on conflict in Balochistan on 4th February 2011 in Islamabad. The participant speakers included political leaders from Balochistan, representatives of civil society and development organizations, media persons and scholars. PIPS Director Muhammad Amir Rana coordinated the discussion. The purpose of the roundtable was to share with the … Read more
The international law allows the civilian victims of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan to take the matter to the court of law. If the drone strikes are proven unlawful by the U.N., international court of justice or the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. will be required to stop such attacks, reassure Pakistan of not repeating them … Read more
The issue of human rights violations in Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) neither receives attention of world human rights organizations nor the international media. International civil society’s role becomes more relevant to push the stakeholders for a permanent solution to Kashmir dispute. Moreover in the era of globalization, the regional economic interdependence necessitates regional and local approaches … Read more
Violent tendencies are increasing in Pakistan as compared to other Muslim countries. Though people are against Taliban but they do not openly oppose their agenda per se. These were the views expressed by participants of a seminar titled “Radicalization in Pakistan” organized by Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) on September 14, 2010 Islamabad. The … Read more