NUST International Conference Explores Non-Traditional Security Challenges and Calls for Collective Attention and Reciprocal Action

The conference hosted speakers, diplomats, government officials, representatives of inter-governmental organizations (INGOs), thinktanks across and outside the country amongst others. The unique presentations of the speakers demonstrated the richness of thoughts and clarity of ideas vis-à-vis the discourse of non-traditional security challenges. While the presentations brought forth the praxis of the subject matter, there was an unequivocal spoken and unspoken consensus on the greater need for mutual, collective, and reciprocal attention towards non-traditional security challenges – both in theory and practice.

On the first day, the conference was graced by the presence of Dr Rizwan Riaz, Pro-Rector RIC as the Chief Host, Prof Dr Ijaz Shafi Gilani as the keynote speaker, and Amb. Dr Raza Muhammad – President IPRI as the Chief Guest. In his keynote address, Prof Ijaz Shafi Gilani historically traced the dialectical manifestation of security both as a subject of globalisation and hard politics. His dilation of the subject exposed the nexus of politics, technology, and security challenges. He questioned some of the assertions about Pakistan which were devoid of empirical and verifiable yardsticks. He argues whether Pakistan can pay serious attention to its civilizational crisis which is an integral element of non-traditional security challenges. As the Chief Guest, Amb. Dr Raza Muhammad identified the spectrum, nature, and scope of insecurity challenging Pakistan. In addition, he examined the imperative of developing a strategic vision for Pakistan in an emerging new world order.

The second day of the conference was accorded similar intellectual stimulations from the numerous in-depth analyses of the presenters and guests. As the Chief Guest Speaker, Gen Zubair Hayat offered an insightful take on the subject, his nuanced understanding of non-traditional security challenges was scholastically challenging. Combined with identifying the dynamics and implications of the new threats for Pakistan and the region, his presentation intellectually shoved into the unmapped territory of tangibility and intangibility of security threats.

As the keynote speaker of the day, Prof Przemyslaw Osiewicz from Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland, stretched the discourse from the lens of international relations and simultaneously exposed the participants to the notion of astropolitics – a novel politics which transcends the traditional international competition amongst states, a competition over who’s got the power to rule the outer space. His argument on the future of astropolitics hinges on the readiness of states to strike a balance between competition and cooperation.

During the concluding session, Dr. Ashfaque Hasan Khan, Principal School of Social Sciences and Humanities (S3H), NUST, interrogated the subject of non-traditional security challenges through the prism of economics. He particularly expounded on how the dictatorial policy of transnational and international institutions continues to hold the developing country hostage and by extension complicate the management of ‘economic non-traditional security’ challenges troubling nations like Pakistan.

As a behaviorist and psychologist, Prof Dr Salma Siddiqui, Dean at NUST School of Social Sciences & Humanities (S3H) addressed the subject of non-traditional security from a humanist angle. She emphasized the need to raise the living, psychological, and environmental standards of every individual as the recipe for individual actualization. The conference ended with insightful remarks by Maj. Gen. Salim Raza, Principal NIPCONS.