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Arhama Siddiqa


Research Fellow

Areas of Research:

Iranian foreign policy, GCC politics, and wider Middle East geopolitics

Ms Arhama Siddiqa is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) and a PhD candidate in International Relations at Quaid-e-Azam University. She holds a B.Sc. (Hons) in Political Science & Economics from LUMS (2013), an MA in International Political Economy from the University of Warwick (2014), and an MPhil in International Relations from QAU (2023).

Her research focuses on geopolitics, regional security, and international political economy, with publications in peer-reviewed journals and contributions to leading outlets such as The Express Tribune, South Asian Voices, Middle East Monitor, Middle East Eye, and the Al Jazeera Centre for Studies. She has presented papers at major international forums, including the Gulf Research Meeting at Cambridge University (2024) and the Gulf Studies Symposium at Georgetown University (2025).

In addition to her research, she has editorial experience with volumes on Afghanistan, Pakistan’s strategic frontiers, and Middle Eastern affairs. She is also a Commonwealth Professional Fellow (2017) and an active participant in global policy dialogues, including the Tehran Dialogue Forum and Doha Forum.

 

Mail arhama.siddiqa@issi.org.pk

Issue Brief on “Demonstrations in Lebanon: Between Poverty and The Pandemic”

Since October 2019, Lebanese citizens have been demonstrating against the government denouncing them for dishonesty and misconduct. The country has been immersed in an...

Issue Brief on “Covid in the Camps: Challenges to Refugees in the Middle East”

Conflicts and wars have become trademarks of the modern Middle East. The disputes have led to thousands of people fleeing their homes and taking...

Issue Brief on “COVID 19 and Repatriation of Pakistani Workers”

It is hard to overestimate the role of migrant labor in the Gulf, where jobs in construction, sanitation and transportation are primarily undertaken by...

Issue Brief on “Situation in Yemen: Caught Between Conflict and The Corona Virus”

March 22, 2020 marked five years since the conflict in Yemen began. The country has been in turmoil since 2015, when Iran-backed Houthi militia...

Pakinese Pakoras

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Issue Brief on “Trump’s Peace Plan: Pathway To Privation”

President Trump unveiled his so-called “Deal of the Century” on January 28, 2020 to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Both the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin...

Issue Brief on “Protests in Iraq: An Assessment”

In October 2019, large-scale protests erupted across Iraq. Tens of thousands of people, angry over corruption, maladministration and rising unemployment (which reached 8% in...

Cold War in the Islamic World: Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Struggle for Supremacy,...

The Middle Eastern region challenges simple depictions and the difficulties that exist here are, in fact, susceptible to simple solutions. The reader comes away...

Issue Brief on “Indian Atrocities in IOK: Is India Following Israeli Script?”

On August 05, 2019, in what Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called “a historic decision”, the Government of India unilaterally abolished Article 370 and...

Report – Roundtable “Participants of Trilateral (Afghanistan, China, Pakistan) Diplomatic Workshop”

The Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) hosted a roundtable on October 31, 2019 with participants of the Trilateral Diplomatic Workshop at the Foreign...