NUST, German think-tank to conduct research on post-conflict N Waziristan

Project will investigate impacts of displacement, resettlement

The National University of Science and Technology (NUST) and the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) have joined hands to conduct research on effects of conflict in North Waziristan.

The NUST Centre for International Peace & Stability (CIPS), and the HSF, Pakistan, signed a research project agreement at a ceremony at the university’s main campus on Thursday.

Funded by HSF, the year-long project is titled, “Unravelling the Contextual Realities in Post-Conflict North Waziristan Agency (NWA): Understanding Displacement, Resettlement and Post-Conflict Development.”

As an academic think-tank, CIPS ventures into developing the understandings of contemporary peace and conflict dynamics to emerge with pragmatic and unprecedented perspectives to address the most ruinous issues related to international and national development.

This undertaking is a pioneering effort by an academic research team to explore the ground realities in North Waziristan on the aforementioned thematic areas mentioned in the title of the project, said a NUST press release. It is focused on post-conflict rehabilitation and development, which is hailed as one of the most recent developments to peace efforts in NWA.

HSF Acting Director Andreas Duerr and NUST Pro-Rector RIC Dr Nassar Ikram, CIPS Associate Dean Dr Tughral Yamin and CIPS Assistant Professor Dr Muhammad Makki signed the agreement.

Dr Muhammad Makki and CIPS HoD Dr Bakare Najimdeen are the principal investigators for the research project.  A day earlier, NUST CIPS and HSF jointly convened a roundtable titled, “Legal and Socio-cultural Discourse on Human Migration” at NUST’s main campus.

The roundtable was the first of a series of three roundtable conferences. Their overarching aim is to produce a blueprint or policy framework that contributes towards devising Pakistan’s migration management strategies. Mr Davide Terzi, Chief of Mission, International Organization for Migration (IOM), Pakistan, graced the occasion with his presence.

The roundtable brought together speakers with expertise in international and national law, academic backgrounds in migration studies and, in particular, practitioners dealing with refugees in Pakistan. They emphasised on the need to arrive at more pragmatic and implementable steps concerning the various manifestations of human migrants. 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2019.