Ayesha Jalal is a leading historian on South Asia. She is a MacArthur Fellow and a professor at Tufts University. Her work primarily centers on the conception of modern Muslim identities in South Asia and the examination of the creation of the Pakistan state and its struggle to achieve democracy.

 Dr. Jalal has been an Associate Professor at Columbia University (1991-1999), Visiting Associate Professor at Harvard University (1998-1999), Fellow of the MacArthur Foundation (1998-2003); Member Editorial Board, Third World Quarterly; Member International Advisory Committee, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Lahore School of Management Sciences (LUMS).

 Her publications concentrate on the themes of decolonization, problems of sovereignty, identity, citizenship and democracy, Islam and Women.  She has authored several books which include Partisans of Allah: Jihad in South Asia (2008), Democracy and Authoritarianism in South Asia: A Comparative and Historical Perspective, The State of Martial Rule: The Origins of Pakistan’s Political Economy of Defense (1990), The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, the Muslim League and the Demand for Pakistan (1985).

Ahsan Iqbal is the current information secretary of PML-N, the former Federal Minister for Education and an elected member of the National Assembly.

He has been previously appointed as Chief Coordinator / Minister of State, Pakistan 2010 Program (1997–99), Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission (Pakistan) (1998–99); Chairman, Good Governance Group, Government of Pakistan (1997–99); Chairman, Pakistan Engineering Board, and Chairman, National Steering Committees on Information Technology and IQM and Productivity (1998–99). He earlier served as Policy and Public Affairs Assistant to the Prime Minister of Pakistan

Dr. S Akbar Zaidi is an independent economist based in Karachi, with specialisation in political economy. He is currently a Visiting Professor at Columbia University, with a joint position at SIPA, the School of International Public Affairs and at MESAAS, the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies. His research has focused on development and governance issues concerning South Asia.

Dr. Zaidi taught economics at the University of Karachi from 1983 to 1996 before becoming a visiting scholar at the University of Oxford (1998) and later a research fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for the Advanced Study of India in New Delhi (2002–03). From 2004 to 2005 he was a visiting professor at SAIS at Johns Hopkins University, and since 2010 has been at Columbia University.

He has written more than sixty academic articles and book chapters, and has authored or edited over a dozen books, including, Pakistan’s Economic and Social Development: The Domestic, Regional and Global Context (2004), Issues in Pakistan’s Economy (2005), and most recently, Military, Civil Society and Democratization in Pakistan, (2011).

Dr. Akmal Hussain is an economist and specializes in development and institution-building for overcoming poverty. Currently, he is the Chairman of the Working Group on Poverty Reduction Strategy and Human Resource Development for the 10th Five Year Plan, Planning Commission, Government of Pakistan and a Professor of Economics at the Beaconhouse National University in Lahore.

Dr. Hussain has worked as the honorary CEO of the Punjab Rural Support Program (PRSP). He has also helped to establish the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund and LEAD (Leadership for Environment and Development, Pakistan) as the founding member of the Board of Directors of both institutions. In 2004, he was a member of the Prime Minister's Task Force on Poverty Alleviation and Employment Generation in 2004, member of the President Musharraf's Economic Advisory Board during 1999-2002 and earlier a member of the Prime Minister's Economic Affairs Committee as an independent economist working on an honorary basis, until May 1998. He was Chairman of the working group on Poverty Alleviation for the preparation of the Ninth Five-Year Plan 1998-2003 and has also contributed to the Report of the National Commission on Agriculture. Dr. Hussain has been working for regional cooperation in South Asia as a member of the Board of Governors of the South Asia Centre for Policy Studies (SACEPS) and the Independent Group for South Asian Cooperation (IGSAC).

He has authored three books on economic policy and co-authored/contributed chapters to 27 other books, 29 publications in journals and contributed over 100 newspaper articles on economic and social issues; has also undertaken research for international agencies, including the World Bank, United Nations University, ILO/ARTEP, Swiss Development Corporation, Dutch Government and CIDA.

Ali Dayan Hasan Before taking over as Pakistan Director, Ali Dayan Hasan served as Human Rights Watch's South Asia researcher since 2003 and has specialized expertise in Pakistan. Hasan is responsible for researching, authenticating and writing reports, briefing papers and news releases produced by Human Rights Watch on Pakistan. He advocates South Asian human rights concerns globally with regional bodies, national governments, international financial institutions and is a regular contributor on Pakistan in the international media. In addition to appearing frequently as a commentator on television, his opinion pieces have appeared in major international media.

Before joining Human Rights Watch, Hasan was a senior editor at Pakistan's premier independent, political news monthly magazine, Herald. During 2006 and 2007, Hasan was also a Visiting Research Fellow at the Leverhulme Changing Character of War Programme at the University of Oxford. He has a B.A. from the London School of Economics and a master's degree from St. Antony's College, Oxford. 

Hina Jilani is an advocate and specializes in human rights cases, with special focus on the rights of women, minorities, children and prisoners, including political prisoners.

Ms. Jilani has been a founding member of the AGHS Legal Cell, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and the Women’s Action Forum and provides pro bono legal aid. Previously, she also set up Dastak, a shelter for women who were victims of abuse and violence. She has worked on human rights cases that have become landmark cases and led to the promulgation of legislation for children’s rights. She has been a member of the UN Fact Finding Mission on Gaza in 2009, the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur, appointed by the United Nations Security Council in 2004. From 2006-2008, Ms. Jilani was a member of the Eminent Jurists Panel on Human Rights and Counter Terrorism appointed by the International Commission of Jurists from 2006-2008. She has also worked with the NGO coalition for the establishment of an International Criminal Court on the text of the ICC statute.

Ms. Jilani has also been awarded the Millennium Peace Prize for Women, the Human Rights Award by the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights and has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Law by Roehampton University, United Kingdom.

Jonathan Paris is a London-based foreign affairs analyst covering Asia and the Middle East, as well as Europe, US foreign policy and international security.  He is associated with several think tanks and universities including Senior Fellow with the South Asia Center of the Atlantic Council of the United States, Associate Fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) at King’s College London, and Adjunct Fellow at Legatum Institute, which recently published his Report, Prospects for Pakistan (2010) at http://www.li.com/attachments/ProspectsForPakistan.pdf

Before moving to London in 2001, Mr. Paris was a Fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations in New York from 1995-2000, where he worked on the Middle East Peace Process and MENA Economic Summits. While at the Council, he also co-edited a book on Indonesia entitled The Politics of Post-Suharto Indonesia (Brookings/CFR 1999).

He taught on Islamic trends and on the Middle East at Yale University from 1994-1997; comments on BBC World News, CNN, Sky, CBS, NBC and ARY News; and has written for the International Herald Tribune, Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, The Washington Quarterly, Financial Times, Asharq al Awsat and other periodicals. A Senior Associate Member at St. Antony’s College, Oxford, from 2004-2005, he is a graduate of Yale University and Stanford Law School.

Stephen Cohen is senior fellow in foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution. He is an expert on Pakistan, India, and South Asian security.

He is an emeritus professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has published extensively on the politics of South Asia and on security issues in the region. His books include; The Idea of Pakistan (2004); The Compound Crisis of 1990: Perception, Politics and Insecurity (2003); India: Emerging Power (2001); The Pakistan Army (second revised edition, 1998; Chinese edition, 1998; Urdu edition, 2001); The Indian Army: Its Contribution to the Development of a Nation (second revised paperback edition, 2001).

Dr. Cohen was a faculty member at the University of Illinois from 1965 to 1998. In 1992-93 he was Scholar-in-Residence at the Ford Foundation, New Delhi, and from 1985-87 a member of the Policy Planning Staff of the U.S. Department of State where he advised on matters pertaining to South Asia, security, and proliferation issues. He has appeared on national radio and television, including All Things Considered and Nightline, and is a regular contributor to BBC radio and television. He has served on study groups examining Asia sponsored by the Asia Society (1994), the Council on Foreign Relations (1996), and the Asia Foundation (2001); he is currently a member of the National Academy of Science' Committee on International Security and Arms Control and is a member of the board of trustees of the Washington D.C.-based Public Education Center. Dr. Cohen was the co-founder and chair of the Workshop on Security, Technology and Arms Control for younger South Asian and Chinese strategists, held for the past eight years in Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and China, and was an original member of the Research Committee of the South Asian strategic organization, the Regional Centre for Security Studies, Colombo.

General Talat Masood served in the Pakistani Army for 39 years, retiring in 1990 as Secretary for Defence Production in the Ministry of Defence. Prior to this, Lt. Gen. Masood was chairman and chief executive of the Pakistan Ordnance Factories Board. A graduate of the Pakistan Command and Staff College and the National Defence College of the Armed Forces, Lt. Gen. Masood has a B.Sc in mechanical engineering and a Masters in Defence and Strategic Studies.

He has authored several articles and book chapters and General Masood is a frequent participant and speaker in international conferences. He writes regularly on security and political issues in national newspapers and foreign magazines and is a prominent commentator on national and international television and radio networks. General Masood is the chief coordinator for Pugwash and its council member.

Shahid Hafiz Kardar is an economist and currently serving as the 16^th Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan. Mr. Kardar had also served as Minister for Finance, Planning & Development, Excise and Taxation and Industries & Minerals Development, Government of Punjab from November 1999 to January 2001.

Mr. Kardar has also served as Chairman of the Punjab Education Foundation from June 2005-October 2008 and a Member of theNational Commission for Government Reform (2006-2008); Banking Laws Review Commission; the Advisory Board of Kashf Microfinance Bank Ltd.; and several government Committees and Task Forces set up by the Federal and Punjab Governments. He has been a visiting lecturer at Pakistan School of Public Policy, National Defence College, Pakistan Administrative Staff College, NIPA and Civil Services Academy. He is also a regular guest speaker at seminars organized within the country and abroad by academic institutions, multilateral and bilateral financial institutions and NGOs. He has also advised international institutions such as the World Bank, ADB and DFID on economic issues. He has authored three books and several papers on economic matters pertaining to Pakistan.

Hasan Askari Rizvi is an independent political and defense analyst. He is also Professor Emeritus in the Department of Political Science at the University of the Punjab, Lahore, and author of several books on the Pakistani army. He obtained an M.A. And Ph.D. in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania, USA, and an M. Phil. in Politics from the University of Leeds, UK. Earlier, he did his Masters in Political Science from the University of the Punjab, Lahore.

Dr. Rizvi has also served as the Quaid-e-Azam Distinguished Professor of Pakistan Studies at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs from 1995-1999 and was a Visiting Research Scholar at Sandia National Laboratory in 2002. He was also a Visiting Professor with the South Asia Program of School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C. (2007, 2008).

Affrasiab Khattak is a member of the Senate and serves as the Chairman of the Senate’s Functional Committee on Human Rights. He is also the Provincial President of the Awami National Party in the province of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa. Mr. Khattak has been involved in politics for over 30 years and has been committed to campaigning for democratic rule and human rights.

He has been a member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) since 1989, and served as the Vice Chairman of HRCP in the province of KP, for three years - he is also one of the founders of the Afghanistan Pakistan People's Friendship Association. In 1999, he was unanimously elected Chairperson of HRCP for a three-year-term. Re-elected in 2002, he resigned from the post after he rejoined the Awami National Party. He is also a known constitutional expert and a practicing lawyer of the Supreme and High Court.

Shuja Nawaz is a political and strategic analyst.  He has worked on projects with RAND, the United States Institute of Peace, The Center for Strategic and International Studies, The Atlantic Council, and other leading think tanks on projects dealing with Pakistan and the Middle East. In January 2009 he was made the first Director of the South Asia Center at The Atlantic Council of the United States.

Educated at Gordon College, Rawalpindi, where he obtained a BA in Economics and English Literature and the Graduate School of Journalism of Columbia University in New York, where he was a Cabot Fellow and won the Henry Taylor International Correspondent Award, he was also a member of the prize-winning team at Stanford University’s Publishing Program.  He was a newscaster and producer for Pakistan Television and covered the 1971 war with India on the Western Front.  He has worked for the World Health Organization and the New York Times and has headed three separate divisions at the International Monetary Fund.  He was also a Director at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.  Mr. Nawaz was the Managing Editor and then Editor of Finance & Development, the multilingual quarterly of the IMF and the World Bank and on the Editorial Advisory Board of the World Bank Research Observer.

His latest book is Crossed Swords: Pakistan, its Army, and the Wars Within (Oxford University Press 2008), available on the web and from leading booksellers worldwide. He is also the author of FATA: A Most Dangerous Place (CSIS, Washington, D.C., January 2009).

Dr. Syed Rifaat Hussain is Professor and the Chair of the Department of Defence and Strategic Studies at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. Prior to this, he has served as the Chair of the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies at the National University in Islamabad, and the Executive Director of the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Professor Hussain has also taught at the Political Science Department, Stanford University, California, USA.  He has been a course director for International Politics at the Foreign Service Academy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Islamabad. He serves as a member of the editorial boards of many diverse publications, such as the South Asia Journal and the National Defense University Journal and Regional Studies Quarterly. Professor Hussain is the author of numerous books and publications, including Afghanistan and 9/11: The Anatomy of a Conflict (2002); From Dependence to Intervention: Soviet-Afghanistan Relations During the Brezhnev Era (1964-1982) (1994); "Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE): An Elusive Quest for a "homeland" in the Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Spring 2009); "Pakistan's Changing Outlook on Kashmir," in South Asian Survey (2007)and “The Indian Factor,” in Maleeha Lodhi, ed. Pakistan: Beyond the Crisis State (New York: Hurst Publishers, 2010). He received his M.A. and PhD in International Studies from the University of Denver, Colorado, USA.