Sherry Rehman
President
Senator Sherry Rehman is Parliamentary Leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in Senate, as well as the party’s Vice-President. She is the Founding Chair and serving President of the Jinnah Institute, Chair of the Climate Change Caucus in Parliament, Chair of the CPEC Committee in Senate and Chair of PPP’s Committee on Foreign Affairs.
She is a third-term Parliamentarian, diplomat, journalist, and civil society activist who has received Pakistan’s highest civil award, the Nishan-e-Imtiaz.
Rehman has served as the Leader of Opposition in Senate, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States and Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting. She has held additional portfolios of Health, Women Development, and Culture as a Federal Minister.
Rehman has received several awards including the title of Democracy’s Hero; The Freedom Award for her work for media independence; the International Peace Award for Democrats; and the Jeanne Kirkpatrick Award for Women. Identified as one of the Top Global Thinkers of 2011 by Foreign Policy magazine, she was cover-titled by Newsweek Pakistan as “Pakistan’s Most Important Woman”.
Salman Zaidi
Director Programs
Salman Zaidi works as Director Programs at Jinnah Institute. He was part of the Institute’s founding team and led its Strategic Security Program from 2010-2015 where his work concentrated on Track 2 diplomacy between Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and the United States. He has led research projects on security sector reform, radicalization, youth, democratic governance and resource conflicts. Zaidi has previously worked with international development agencies and INGOs on recasting federal and provincial policy frameworks for security sector reform, rule of law, countering violent extremism and climate change. He holds an MSc in Violence, Conflict and Development from SOAS, UK.
Salman Zaidi can be reached at salmanzaidi@jinnah-institute.org
Syed Hassan Akbar
Director Programs (SSI)
Syed Hassan Akbar is Director Programs at Jinnah Institute. Prior to joining JI, Akbar was Director Monitoring, Evaluation and Research for USAID’s largest gender equity based grants program at Aurat Foundation, one of the largest rights-based organizations in the country. A Fulbright Scholar, Akbar has co-authored and supervised several nationally representative research studies on democracy, governance, gender and poverty alleviation.
He has been co-author of successive iterations of the UNDP’s Social Audit on Public Service Delivery and Local Governments in 2010 and 2012 and has supervised the country’s first nationally representative benchmark study on gender differentials in 2011.
Specializing in assessing impact of development interventions, Akbar has conducted impact evaluations of teacher training programs, community infrastructure interventions and disaster preparedness programs for leading national and international development organizations in the country.
He holds a Masters in International Affairs from the School of Public and International Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University and a Bachelors Degree in Economics from the Lahore University of Management Sciences.
Hassan Akbar can be reached at hassan.akbar@jinnah-institute.org.
Raza Rumi
Senior Research Fellow
Raza Ahmad Rumi is a Senior Research Fellow at Jinnah Institute. Raza is an international development expert, a renowned writer and journalist. Prior to joining JI, he was working for the Asian Development Bank, Manila as an economist/governance specialist. Earlier, he has worked for the Government of Pakistan, a number of Pakistani NGO networks, the United Nations and has consulted extensively for various development agencies. Raza is also an academic adviser to Network of Asia Pacific Schools and Institutes of Public Administration and Governance; Public Policy Adviser to Leadership for Environment and Development, Pakistan; and a member of the Advisory Board of ASR Resource Centre and South Asian Institute of Women’s studies, Lahore.
Raza’s research interests and advisory skills include: security, justice and counter-terrorism, public policy, governance & anticorruption; decentralization; capacity development; and change management. He has authored several research papers and publications on governance, institutional development and South Asian arts and culture. Some of his writings are archived on www.razarumi.com. He also writes for the Pakistani and regional media. Rumi has been a consulting editor at The Friday Times and Himal SouthAsia. His columns are frequently published in daily Express-Tribune and The News in Pakistan; and The Hindu, Asian Age and other publications in India. Raza also founded popular blogs such as www.pakteahouse.net; and www.lahorenama.wordpress.com.
Raza holds a Bachelor (Economics) and Master degree (Social Planning) from the London School of Economics, UK. He has also been trained in law and public administration and law at the Civil Services Academy, Pakistan.
Raza Rumi can be contacted on razaahmadrumi@gmail.com.
Zahid Hussain
Senior Research Fellow
Zahid Hussain is an award-winning journalist and writer. He has been a correspondent for The Times of London and The Wall Street Journal. He also has covered Pakistan and Afghanistan for several other international publications, including Newsweek, Associated Press, The Economist and India Today, and is a regular columnist for the Dawn newspaper in Pakistan.
He was Pakistan scholar at Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars, Washington. D.C (2011-2012). He has also been a visiting fellow at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge (1999) and at Henry Stimson Center, Washington D.C (1994)
Hussain has authored two books: Frontline Pakistan: The struggle with militant Islam (2007) and The scorpion’s tail: The relentless rise of Islamic militants in Pakistan (2010). Both books have won widespread acclaim as seminal texts on the subject.
He has also contributed chapters: “ Deliberate nuclear ambiguity” in the book “Pakistan and nuclear bomb”. Notre Dame University Press (1999), and “Battling militancy” in the book “Pakistan-Beyond crisis”.Columbia University Press (2011).
Fahd Humayun
Program & Research Manager,
SSI
Fahd Humayun is the Program Manager for Jinnah Institute’s Strategic Security track. In addition to managing the Chaophraya Dialogue – the longest consistently running Indo-Pak Track II initiative , he has also overseen strategic planning and research for transboundary water-sharing exercises in South Asia, and regional foreign policy mapping. In 2014 he attended a two-week RCSS summer workshop on Nuclear Security and Strategic Stability in Sri Lanka. At Jinnah Institute he assists on conflict proposal writing, donor outreach, and internal research on national security and countermilitancy. He holds an MPhil in International Relations from the University of Cambridge, and a BSc in International Relations and History from the London School of Economics.
He has also taught a course on Foreign Policy at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.
Fahd Humayun tweets at @fahdhumayun and can be contacted at fahdhumayun@jinnah-institute.org.
Meera Nadeem
Project Manager, SSI
Meera is Project Manager, Strategic Security Initiative (SSI) at Jinnah Institute where she is responsible for research and logistics for the SSI Project activities including its umbrella projects, and manages the Chaophraya Dialogue – the longest consistently running Indo-Pak Track II initiative and its operations. Additionally, she assists in ensuring the timely delivery of other SSI outputs, including managing media monitoring briefs.
She is a McGill graduate with a double major in Anthropology and International Development with a focus on Economic Development. In the past, she has worked in the Oil and Gas sector and has professional work experience in technical writing and communications that spans over 2 years.
Meera is also the co-founder of the Islamabad Civic Innovation Lab, a dedicated volunteer run chapter of Code for Pakistan that is a part design lab, part community caucus, and part accelerator of civic startups with a focus on designing real solutions with-and-for communities in-and-around Islamabad by bridging the gap between technology and government interfaces for the public. She has an avid interest in the arts and enjoys creating some in her spare time.
Meera Nadeem can be reached at meera.shams@jinnah-institute.org
Syed Mustehsan Rasool
Manager, Finance
Syed Mustehsan Rasool works as a Finance Assistant at Jinnah Institute and has previously trained at Millennium Securities and Investments, Islamabad. He holds a Bachelors degree in Commerce from the University of Punjab.
Syed Mustehsan Rasool can be contacted at mustehsan@jinnah-institute.org
Arsalaan Nazir
Administration & Human
Resource Officer
Arsalaan Nazir is the Administration and Human Resource Officer at Jinnah Institute. Mr. Nazir has six years of experience in managing international conferences and events. He is responsible for the Institute’s procurement process, logistics, publishing, recruitment and event management.
Mr. Nazir holds a degree in Business Administration from Bahria University, Islamabad with concentration in Human Resource, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Sociology from University of the Punjab, Lahore. He has previously been organizing and planning events in collaboration with DreamNest productions.
Arsalaan Nazir can be contacted at arsalaanazir@jinnah-institute.org
Yousaf
Dilshad
Communication
and Design Specialist
Yousaf Dilshad is a Communications and Design Specialist at Jinnah Institute, where he is responsible for managing the communication platforms of the organization including the website and social media platforms, and engaging in media outreach. He is also responsible for the design and development of JI’s digital products; including Bilateral Timelines, the Hate Tracker, and Infographics.
Dilshad holds a Bachelors degree from the Lahore University of Management Sciences in Political Science and a Masters degree in Project Management from SZABIST. In the past, he has worked in the NPO sector with experience in communications and donor management.
Yousaf can be reached at yousaf.dilshad@jinnah-institute.org
Mariam Ali Bokhari
Project Officer
Mariam Bokhari is a Project Officer at Jinnah Institute where she is responsible for providing research, logistical, and administrative support for Jinnah Institute projects, including the Economic Dialogue. She also assists in the planning, execution and delivery of Policy Events, Roundtables, Town Halls, and Twitter Cafes, as well as in-house research including data collection and analysis.
Mariam holds a Bachelors degree from the Lahore University of Management Sciences where she majored in Economics and minored in History.
Mariam Bokhari can be contacted at mariam.bokhari@jinnah-institute.org