Board of Advisors

Ayesha Jalal is a leading historian on South Asia, currently a MacArthur Fellow and professor at Tufts University. Her research focuses on modern Muslim identities in South Asia and the creation of the Pakistan state. Dr. Jalal has been an Associate Professor at Columbia University and a Visiting Associate Professor at Harvard University. She has authored several books, including The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, the Muslim League and the Demand for Pakistan and Partisans of Allah: Jihad in South Asia. Jalal is a member of the Editorial Board for Third World Quarterly.

Nasim Zehra is a prominent expert on foreign affairs and national security, contributing to major publications such as The News, Gulf News, and Arab News. She has lectured at prestigious institutions like the National Defence College and Johns Hopkins, and served on Pakistan’s Presidential Advisory Committee on Foreign Policy and National Security.

Shahnaz Wazir Ali has an illustrious career as an educationist, development policy specialist, and women’s rights activist. She has served as a member of the Pakistan Peoples Party and was twice elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan. Wazir Ali held positions such as Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Sectors and Minister of State for Education. She has worked as a Senior Education Specialist at the World Bank and has been a Trustee of the Education Trust running Nasra Schools in Karachi. She is currently the Provincial Coordinator for the Government of Sindh on primary health care programs and President of the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Sciences and Technology.

Ambassador Najmuddin Shaikh served as Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary from April 1994 to February 1997. Having joined the Foreign Service of Pakistan in 1961, Ambassador Shaikh has 38 years of service to his credit and has held several ambassadorial assignments including Ambassador to Canada (1987-89), Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany (1989-90), Ambassador to the United States (1990-91), and Ambassador to Iran (1992-94). He obtained degrees of B.Com from Sindh University and an M.A. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He is a political and security commentator, and is regularly published in international relations journals, and featured in local and foreign media.

Khawar Mumtaz is the current Chairperson of the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW), bringing almost 30 years of experience in human rights advocacy and women’s empowerment. A founding member of the Women Action Forum (WAF), she has played a key role in shaping the discourse on democracy and women’s rights in Pakistan. Mumtaz has served as CEO of Shirkat Gah Women’s Resource Centre and has been involved with organizations like ARROW, UNEP International Resource Panel, and PANOS South Asia. She has authored several books, including Women’s Rights and the Punjab Peasant Movement and Beyond Risk Management. In 2006, she was awarded the Sitara-e-Imtiaz for her social service and promotion of women’s rights.

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 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. He received his M.A. and PhD in International Studies from the University of Denver, Colorado, USA.

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. 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. 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.

Shahid Hafiz Kardar is an economist and the 16th Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan. He has previously served as Minister for Finance, Planning & Development, Excise and Taxation, and Industries & Minerals Development in the Government of Punjab. Kardar has held various leadership positions, including Chairman of the Punjab Education Foundation and Member of the National Commission for Government Reform. He has also advised international organizations such as the World Bank and ADB on economic matters. Kardar has authored three books and numerous papers on Pakistan’s economic issues.

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 is a frequent participant and speaker in international conferences. General Masood is the chief coordinator for Pugwash and its council member.

Ishrat Husain is a renowned economist and former Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan. A recipient of Hilal-e-Imtiaz, Husain has served as Chairman, National Commission for Government Reforms reporting directly to the President and Prime Minister of Pakistan. He has also held the office of Dean and Director, Institute of Business Administration Karachi. He is currently a member of Middle East Advisory Group of the IMF and the Regional Advisory Group of the UNDP, the Executive Board of Association of Management Development institutions of South Asia(AMDISA) and the Chairman World Economic Forum Global Advisory Council on Pakistan. He has authored 18 books and monographs and contributed more than three dozen articles in refereed journals and 27 chapters in books.

Ali Dayan Hasan is the Executive Director of Huqooq-e-Pakistan, the European Union’s flagship Human Rights Capacity Building and Training Program for the country. He previously 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. 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.

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. 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.

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. His research has focused on development and governance issues concerning South Asia. 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).

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.