Lahore, May 17, 2022 (PPI-OT):It was the year 1999 when Rabia Akhtar, a woman of strength and dignity, right after getting a Master’s degree in International Relations, got her first gig. Perhaps reading the works of Kenneth Waltz and John Mearsheimer had not trained her to be a Sales Executive at a five-star hotel.
Unfazed, she took on the challenge and, if anything, put some of her skills to good use while learning something which has stayed with her ever since: it is upon you to make the most of what comes your way. That lesson proved instrumental, as she not only decided to accept a journalistic, international-level opportunity but also went on to complete a Master’s degree in Political Science from Eastern Illinois University, USA. It was during that degree that she started taking interest in all things nuclear. Her thesis which looked at the nuclearization of Pakistan through Graham Allison’s three models paved the way for her entry into the field of nuclear scholarship. After completing her Master’s, she joined the Fatima Jinnah Women University, and was asked to steer the ship of the new Department of Defense and Diplomatic Studies.
As a new, young academician, she was able to get the ball rolling in the said department. Leading enthusiastic, industrious minds was both challenging and rewarding. By encouraging and facilitating students and faculty at FJWU to do better, she was able to establish the credibility of the department, which, as we speak, is one of the leading, most well-reputed departments in the fields of strategic studies in Pakistan (now renamed IR Dept.).
What’s more, in the same period, she got a chance to work at the Strategic Plans Division (SPD). Realizing the importance of strengthening the intellectual capacities of young scholars, she started a program through which civilian scholars were to be inducted into the SPD. This program was aimed at not only enabling young minds to work on issues related to nuclear weapons but also making Pakistan’s nuclear narrative more credible and effective. In its 15th year now, the program has helped many scholars in Pakistan gain national and international recognition.
Apart from playing a leading role in building institutions, Dr. Akhtar was building her credentials as a serious scholar. Her writing for a host of national and international outlets, her successfully completing a doctorate on a Fulbright scholarship, becoming the first Security Studies PhD in Pakistan, and her bagging prestigious fellowships and grants were accomplishments that set the stage for what she went on to do after coming back to Pakistan.
By the time she returned to Pakistan, Dr. Akhtar had a fellowship at the Stimson Center, a monograph, a book chapter, and a number of academic publications under her belt. All this, coupled with her experience in dealing with international voices on Pakistan, had convinced her that Pakistan will remain behind the eight ball if avenues to empower our youth are not created. With this in mind, she joined the University of Lahore. What Dr. Akhtar wanted was this: to introduce a platform for knowledge-creation in the realms of strategic studies and social sciences so as to strengthen the linkage between academic, policymaking, and think tank communities. Similar to her first job, the environment and culture of Lahore were not propitious for that.
However, she went ahead with establishing the Center for Security, Strategy and Policy Research (CSSPR), and the School of Integrated Social Sciences (SISS). As a testament to her leadership qualities, it is important to note what CSSPR, a policy think-tank, against all the odds has achieved in the past 7 years.
SISS was chosen by the Higher Education Commission (HEC), as the first-ever School in any private sector University in Pakistan, to induct Afghan students at the undergraduate level speaks volumes about its reputation. As of spring 2022, the School is imparting BS Social Sciences in Politics and International Relations degree to 114 Afghan students.
Other than running these two organizations, Dr. Akhtar is also the Editor of Pakistan Politico, the country’s first strategic and foreign affairs magazine. It has, in less than 4 years, garnered global attention, with some of the top-notch practitioners and scholars having contributed to it. This, coupled with her having written profusely on nuclear deterrence, strategy, the politics of nuclear non-proliferation, and foreign policy, has made her a regular participant in national and international conferences. Her works were acknowledged by the Government of Pakistan in 2018, and she was chosen as a member of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs. Other than giving her valuable inputs to the Foreign Office, Dr. Akhtar is a regular speaker at the Foreign Service Academy, and is engaged with the National Security Division (NSD) in various working groups.
In addition to this, Dr. Akhtar was, in 2020, selected as a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, Washington, D.C. By virtue of being in that position, Dr. Akhtar has spoken at, and written for, the Atlantic Council on a host of foreign policy and security issues highlighting Pakistan’s security narrative. In February 2022, she was promoted as Associate Professor, owing to her 17-year-long teaching and research experience, and peer-reviewed, internally-recognized publications.
Further, it must be noted that Dr. Akhtar’s works have featured in credible publications, to include Asian Affairs, International Affairs, The National Interest, Foreign Policy Magazine, South Asian Voices, and Routledge International, among others. Her views on nuclear strategy, strategic thought, and international security have been quoted and referred to extensively.
This is evidenced by the fact that she is often invited to speak at events organized by the United Nations, the NATO Defense College, and Pakistan’s and other countries’ diplomatic Missions. Her seminal book The Blind Eye: U.S. Non-Proliferation Policy Towards Pakistan from Ford to Clinton, through rigorous archival research, underscored how the U.S. compromised its nonproliferation goals, to achieve geopolitical ones vis-à-vis Pakistan and was launched in Pakistan in Nov 2018 and Washington DC in April 2019.
Most importantly, as someone who is committed to helping Pakistan reorient its global image, Dr. Akhtar has taken it upon herself to give a plethora of opportunities to young scholars. She has launched several initiatives through the platforms of CSSPR and SISS, to link young students and professionals with some of the most influential strategic minds around the world. Through online Summer Schools, Boot Camps, and, above all, the Nuclear Scholars Initiative, Dr. Akhtar has created a network of 125 professionals, who are connected to experts from around the world. She firmly believes that absent such conduits, Pakistan cannot develop an intellectual capital that will allow the country to maximize its gains and navigate geopolitical minefields. But in her own words, ‘She has miles to go.’
For more information, contact:
The University of Lahore
1 – KM Defence Road, Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-111-865-865, +92-42-35322501 +92-42-35321761
Email: info@uol.edu.pk
Website: www.uol.edu.pk
