Craft a national narrative, Pakistan told at LSE moot

The ‘Future of Pakistan Conference 2017’, a flagship conference of the Pakistan Development Society of London School of Economics, was held in London recently. The conference brought together academics, politicians and professionals from Pakistan and the UK to debate the directions in which Pakistan is progressing, and the impact of government initiatives and policies on its citizens and future.

Supported by the Pakistan High Commission in London and Communications Research Strategies (CRS), an Islamabad-based Strategic Communication firm, the conference was multiply significant. LSE is a world-renowned institution known for the value it adds to productive discourse, the development of research agendas, and growth of ideas.

Also, the FOP Conference is the largest student-led International Conference in Europe, allowing a unique opportunity for Pakistani students in LSE, as well as those students and academics interested in Pakistan, to engage with Pakistan’s political leadership in an academic setting.

This year, the speakers included Senator Sherry Rehman, Senator Lt Gen Abdul Qayyum, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Miftah Ismail (Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on economic affairs), and journalist Cyril Almeida.

It was encouraging to see Pakistani students engaging with the country’s political leadership with an open mind, and asking hard-hitting questions.

The most crucial takeout from the conference, however, was that there is a lot of room for the country’s narrative on the international stage. But often times, the nation fails to put across the story as it does not calibrate the response to the emerging international and regional politics on the one hand and on the other, it does not leverage all the available platforms.

Prime Minister Abbasi, who spoke and engaged with the students at the concluding session of the conference, announced to fund the Jinnah Chair at LSE, an initiative he believed, was ‘in the right direction’.  South Asia Centre at LSE is leading an effort to developing an alternative research agenda for Pakistan.

The conference, organized by LSE Student Union Pakistan Development Society, was supported by Communications Research Strategies (CRS) and the Pakistan High Commission in L