Dr Zia Ul Haque Shamsi

The title of this short article might create the perception that it is intended to discuss traditional security matters related to the state and society. However, it is intended to raise certain questions on the execution of security imperatives of the state and society. Traditionally, state security meant the defence of the homeland from external […]

The International Conference on Global Security Threat and Response (GSTAR-2022) was organised by Islamabad’s leading think-tank, the Centre for Aerospace & Security Studies (CASS) on 19-20 October 2022. One of the primary purposes of the Conference was to review aerospace security at global as well as regional levels, for which subject experts from across the […]

This century is only 22 years old, and we have already seen a number of major wars and limited conflicts. Unfortunately, the century began with the tragic events of 9/11, which were followed by an even more terrible overreaction that lasted for two decades. South Asian rivals, India and Pakistan, were at each other’s throats […]

In another article ‘Warfare versus Welfare’ published in Daily Times on October 11, 2022. I argued that ‘While warfare brings pain and punishment (P2D2) for the poor people of a developing nation, absence of war and welfare can bring peace, progress and prosperity (P3), dignity, desire, and development (D3) among the unspoken, unheard, and undernourished […]

The Centre for Aerospace & Security Studies (CASS) is organising the Second Edition of its flagship International Conference ‘Global Strategic Threat & Response’ (GSTAR) on 19-20 October 2022. The first GSTAR was held on 4-5 March 2020. This year’s conference is being held at a time when the global threats related to climate change, Pandemic […]

Trust me, I am not initiating a debate between the realists and the liberalists or the idealists–yet again. Just thinking that similar-looking words, nearly the same sound and spellings, can have such different connotations for the human being. Unbelievable! Since I did not see these two varied words together in the literature unless I totally […]

The title of this article might have indicated that it will be about nuclear strategies of the Cold War that are still valid, but never employed, except against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to force a surrender and achieve an outright victory for the Allied against the Axis powers towards the end of […]

75 years on, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s famous quote, “A country without a strong Air Force is at the mercy of any aggressor. Pakistan must build up her Air Force as quickly as possible. It must be an efficient Air Force, Second to None,” needs to be applied at number of other places. For instance, […]

The problem with realists is that they are not only selfish but also very stubborn in their approach. Moreover, human lives are not important to them and they do not fear the rise of peoplism. Without undermining the significance of the state in the present international system, it is necessary to emphasize the importance of […]

This is the third and the last part of the series on “Defining National Interests” with the first two published in Daily Times on August 15 and 22, respectively. Having defined the National Values first, I had insisted that, “Non-adherence to the fundamental values that are professed and practiced by all religions is one of […]