Pakistan is one of nine states that possess nuclear weapons. Pakistan began developing nuclear weapons in January 1972 under Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto,who delegated the program to the Chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) Munir Ahmad Khan with a commitment to having the device ready by the end of 1976. Since PAEC,which consisted of over twenty laboratories and projects under reactor physicist Munir Ahmad Khan,was falling behind schedule and having considerable difficulty producing fissile material,Abdul Qadeer Khan,a metallurgist working on centrifuge enrichment for Urenco,joined the program at the behest of the Bhutto administration by the end of 1974. Producing fissile material was pivotal to the Kahuta Project's success and thus to Pakistan obtaining the capability to detonate a nuclear weapon by the end of 1984.
Robert Dean Blackwill is a retired American diplomat,author,senior fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations,and lobbyist. Blackwill served as the United States Ambassador to India under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2003 and as United States National Security Council Deputy for Iraq from 2003 to 2004,where he was a liaison between Paul Bremer and Condoleezza Rice.
The National Command Authority (NCA) is an independent federal agency of the Government of Pakistan that is responsible for safeguarding of the national security through the military applications of the nuclear science.
The Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) based in Pakistan,was established in 1999. It is affiliated with the National Security Division (NSD) of the government of Pakistan. IPRI focuses on datafication,digitalization,and analysis of information relevant to policy decisions. As a result of recent reforms,IPRI is ranked 74th in the University of Pennsylvania's Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program.
The Institute conducts multi-disciplinary research and promotes civil society-governmental interactions and policy dialogue through national,regional,and international conferences,enhancing the country's research capacity and environment by facilitating issue-centric discourse.
IPRI's publications claims to offer current and high-quality research. It disseminates its findings and policy recommendations through its publications. To foster goodwill and North-South and South-South communication of cultures and ideas,IPRI also supports academic exchange programs between regional and international researchers and think tanks.
IPRI claims to deal with all facets of National Security,including International Relations &International Law,Strategic Studies,Governance &Public Policy,and Economic Security.
IPRI claims to have exemplified around two decades of analysis towards crucial strategic agendas and inter-governmental processes for the Pakistan government.
James Eugene Goodby is an author and former American diplomat.
Linton Forrestall Brooks is an American government official who served as the Under Secretary of Energy for Nuclear Security from 2002 to 2007.
Amitabh Mattoo is one of India's leading thinkers and writers on Modern and Contemporary History,Political science,International relations. He was awarded Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2009. He is Dean of the School of International Studies,Chair &professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University and honorary professor of international relations at the University of Melbourne. Until 19 June 2018,he served as Advisor to the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir,with the status of a Cabinet Minister. Mattoo is a member of the Academic Advisory Board of the German Institute for Global and Area Studies and was recently elected unanimously as its Deputy Chair. He was the founding CEO of the Australia India Institute at the University of Melbourne and served as chairman of the governing board of Miranda House,University of Delhi,the highest-ranked women's college in India,and served as Chair of Kirori Mal College earlier He has also been a member of the Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing. In 2002,he was the youngest person to be appointed as vice chancellor of a public university in independent India. Mattoo's advice on policy matters has been sought across political parties and across governments,including by Prime Ministers Atal Behari Vajpayee and Dr Manmohan Singh. Following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India,he has offered a political roadmap for securing the future of Jammu and Kashmir. He has been a persistent advocate of multiculturalism and of reconciliation between Kashmiri Pandits and Kashmiri Muslims.
The National Defence University (NDU),formerly introduced as Army War Course (1963–70),the National Defence College (1970–2007),is the military university with additional status of public university of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan focused on military education and training for the armed forces,including Pakistan military forces and two hundred foreign participants. Formerly established on 28 May 1970 at Rawalpindi,its academic principles are focused on command instructions,national security,military strategy,and war studies among other specified academic disciplines. It is one of the oldest military education and training institutes in the country with additional enrollments reserved for the civil servants.
The South Asian Strategic Stability Institute University,in short SASSI University,is a research institute and a think tank located in Islamabad. It was founded with the premise of promoting peace and stability in South Asia. The institute is focused on promoting peace in South Asia particularly Pakistan-India relations.
Adil Najam is a Pakistani academic who also serves as the global President of WWF,the Worldwide Fund for Nature,and is Dean Emerıtus and Professor of International Relations and Earth and Environment at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. He was the founding Dean of the Pardee School from its creation in 2014 until 2022,when he was awarded the status of Dean Emeritus by Boston University. Previously he had served as vice-chancellor of the LUMS ın Lahore,Pakıstan.
Abid Qaiyum Suleri is a Pakistani social policy analyst and development practitioner with a PhD in Food Security from University of Greenwich,UK. He has been the Executive Director of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute since 2007. Suleri gives policy advice and serves on various policy forums/advisory boards at national,regional,and international levels. Currently he is a member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council ;member of the National Advisory Committee of Planning Commission of Pakistan;and of Trade Policy Advisory Committee,Government of Pakistan. He serves on Board of Studies of various universities and also a member of Government of Punjab Vice Chancellor's search committee for Agricultural Universities in Punjab.
Brian H. Hook is an American diplomat,lawyer and government official. In 2021,he joined Cerberus Capital Management as vice chairman for global investments. He is an adjunct professor at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy.
Sartaj Aziz was a Pakistani economist and strategist,who had previously served as the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission of Pakistan,member of the federal cabinet as the de facto Minister for Foreign Affairs,a Federal Senator as well as the National Security Advisor.
The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy is the graduate school of international affairs of Tufts University,in Medford,Massachusetts. Fletcher is one of America's oldest graduate schools of international relations. As of 2017,the student body numbered around 230,of whom 36 percent were international students from 70 countries,and around a quarter were U.S. minorities.
The Full spectrum deterrence (previously known as Minimum Credible Deterrence is the defence and strategic principle on which the atomic weapons programme of Pakistan is based. This doctrine is not a part of the nuclear doctrine,which is designed for the use of the atomic weapons in a full-scale declared war if the conditions of the doctrine are surpassed. Instead,the policy of the Minimum Credible Deterrence falls under minimal deterrence as an inverse to the Mutually Assured Destruction,which is widely regarded as designed to dissuade India from taking any military actions against Pakistan,as it did in 1971,when Pakistan started the war. Pakistan refuses to adopt No first use policy,while the other regional powers,India and China,have adopted the policy. Pakistan's foreign minister Shamshad Ahmad had warned that if Pakistan is ever invaded or attacked,it will use "any weapon in its arsenal" to defend itself.
The Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies is the international relations and public policy school of Boston University. It was officially established in 2014 by consolidating and renaming a number of long-established programs in international and regional studies at Boston University dating back to 1953. The current dean of the Pardee School is Scott D. Taylor,an American scholar of African politics and political economy,with a particular focus on business-state relations,private sector development,governance,and political and economic reform. The Pardee School has nearly 1,000 students,including about 800 undergraduate students. It offers six graduate degrees,two graduate certificates,five undergraduate majors,and seven undergraduate minors,and also brings together seven centers and programs of regional and thematic studies.
Strategic Plans Division Force is a paramilitary force tasked with responsibility of safeguarding and protecting of nuclear materials as well as providing security to nation's tactical and strategic nuclear weapons stockpile and the strategic assets.
The National Security Advisor (NSA) is the senior official on the National Security Council of Pakistan,and the chief adviser to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on national security and international affairs. Moeed Yusuf served as the 9th NSA from May 17,2021 to 3 April 2022,appointed by Prime Minister Imran Khan had the same rank as a Federal Cabinet Minister.
Tariq Javed Banuri is a Pakistani academic,development economist,environmentalist,climate scientist,educationalist,human rights advocate,and author who holds a PhD in economics from Harvard University and who is the fourth and current Chairperson of the Higher Education Commission (HEC),a statutorily established regulatory agency whose mandate is to improve and promote higher education and research &development (R&D) within Pakistan. Tariq Banuri has broad experience on the interface between policy,research,and practical actions on the realization of the goal of sustainable development. He has worked in government,academia,civil society,and the international system,specializing in economic development.
