The institute aims to provide the required expertise and opportunities to highlight burning issues and look for solutions in order to restore peace in the region. PHOTO: FILE.
The former provincial government’s initiative to establish the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Peshawar (UoP) will bear fruit from the upcoming academic term.
The institute aims to provide the required expertise and opportunities to highlight burning issues and look for solutions in order to restore peace in the region.
Talking to The Express Tribune, UoP’s spokesperson Akhtar Amin said Rs120 million was approved by the former provincial government for the construction of a separate building. He added the funds will be handed over to the UoP soon.
“We will begin taking students in this institute from the upcoming academic session,” said Amin, adding the programmes comprise a three-month certificate course, one-year diploma, Bachelor’s programme and MPhil and PhD.
Amin explained the course designed for undergraduates will give students a wider understanding of conflict resolution along with a chance to learn about other subjects of interest.
“The main focus of this programme will lie in fields of management sciences, social sciences and legal and disaster management.”
Lecturers from across the country and abroad will visit the campus and deliver lectures on the current situation in the world, said Amin.
He informed students enrolled in the first year of this programme will have to take courses from related departments such as political science and sociology.
Chairman of the International Relations Department at UoP, Adnan Sarwar elaborated on the nature of the subject, saying peace and conflict studies is a social science field that identifies and analyzes violent and nonviolent behaviors, as well as the structural mechanisms of conflicts.
“Understanding the concept of peace – which is defined as a political condition that ensures justice and social stability through formal and informal institutions, practices and norms – is the basic focus of the course,” said Sarwar.
He added such institutes have been established worldwide and they play an important role in making policies regarding conflict resolution. “To establish such institutions is very important for Pakistan and Afghanistan, because the new generation needs to be aware of the impact of prolonged conflict.”
Sarwar suggested starting peace and conflict studies at the school and college levels, so that an even better understanding about the subject can be developed in young people.
He lauded the efforts of the government to take such a positive step and deemed it a great responsibility on the university to implement it.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 7th, 2013.
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