PRESS RELEASE
Web Celebration: “Pakistan’s 75th Independence Day”
August 14, 2022
The Centre for Strategic Perspectives (CSP), at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) hosted the web-celebration of “Pakistan’s 75th Independence Day” on August 14, 2022. The event was attended by research faculty and staff of ISSI.
In her introductory remarks Dr Neelum Nigar, Director, CSP said that at 75 years of Pakistan’s independence, there is need to take stock of what the country has achieved and what needs to be done to make it an inclusive, innovative and a prosperous country. Dr Nigar further said the role of Think tanks is very important to highlight the existing challenges and help in building the right narrative of Pakistan.
A presentation on “Role of Think-Tanks in building Pakistan’s Policy Narrative,” was given by Ms Mahrukh Khan, Research Fellow, CSP in which she stated that narrative building is relatively new field for a country like Pakistan and a vacuum exists that can be overcome by the Think tank community. Pakistan needs to build and promote the right narrative through effective research, and for this it is important to take ownership of its strengths and weaknesses, in the regard, the role of Think-tanks id very important.
In his remarks Ambassador Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Director General, ISSI, said that Think tanks can play a positive role in building the narrative of Pakistan. Currently the world is engulfed by xenophobic tendencies affecting every nation; these tendencies go against the teachings of the Quaid who encouraged tolerance. Also, the outside world has been able to portray a negative narrative of Pakistan which needs to be countered with the right narrative.
Ambassador Khalid Mahmood Chairman BoG, ISSI concluded the meeting by saying that as Pakistan celebrates the diamond jubilee of its independence, it is time of reflection about the ups and downs of the journey of 75 years. We also, need to look at what went wrong and what are the course corrections. The Two Nation Theory which led to the creation of the country was based on hard experiences and lot of sacrifices were given to achieve it. A future course of action needs to be based upon the saying of the Quaid of Unity, Faith, and Discipline which provides a basic roadmap for the country.
