About IRS
The Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) is an independent, non-profit research centre devoted to the study of the region around Pakistan: South Asia, Southwest Asia (Iran, Afghanistan and the Gulf), China, Central Asia as well as the Indian Ocean region. It also studies and analyses policies of major power centers towards South Asia. The Institute was set up in March 1982. It is considered one of Pakistan's leading think tanks. The Institute covers a wide spectrum of research in foreign and internal affairs, economy and industry, science and technology. The Institute has covered research on the region's - foreign and internal affairs, economy and industry, science and technology, socio-cultural and security related issues. It thus provides in-depth understanding and analyses of regional and global issues. IRS is in touch with similar research institutes the world over. Publications are exchanged, activities carried out under Molls, scholars accommodated on reciprocal basis, public Roundtables, seminars etc. organized for them as well as in-house meetings, workshops and more.
Read More
Recent Events
Round Table DiscussionA roundtable discussion on
‘Pakistan-India Relations’, chaired by
Dr. Rukhsana Qamber, President IRS, was held at IRS on
June 1, 2018. The roundtable featured a power point presentation prepared by
Mr. Aarish U. Khan, Editor, into which other IRS scholars had also provided input. The presentation highlighted salient aspects of Pak-India relations including recent developments in Indian foreign relations, situation in Indian occupied Kashmir, latest developments in Pak-India relations, chances of resumption of bilateral peace process, and the upcoming 2019 general elections in India.
Read More
Abstracts (Regional Studies)
THE ISLAMIC STATE IN AFGHANISTAN: AN
UNCERTAIN FUTURE
AMINA KHAN AND AWAIS ALI SYED
After nearly two decades since the US invasion of Afghanistan, the country continues to wrestle with a plethora of problems. Political instability, deteriorating security, poor governance, unsuccessful peace talks with the Taliban, and the presence of 21 terrorist groups including the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) continue to haunt Afghanistan’s potential for a prosperous future. The official emergence of the ISKP in Afghanistan in 2015 brought with it a set of new challenges for the already war-torn country and complicated the path to peace as they came along ..
Read More
EXAMINING INDIA’S STRATEGIC CULTURE
AND MARITIME DOCTRINAL GROWTH:
THE INDO-PACIFIC IN PERSPECTIVE
UMM-E-HABIBA AND MUHAMMAD AZAM KHAN During much of the Cold War, New Delhi’s strategic perceptions remained overwhelmingly land-centric. Maritime thinking and significance of naval power took a secondary spot in the Indian strategic and security perception. A surge in the country’s economy and post-9/11 developments rapidly transformed the country’s strategic culture. New Delhi placed a renewed focus on naval modernisation, while maritime thinking (strategy and doctrinal growth), as well as blue water naval ambitions, became pronounced ..
Read More
THE ECONOMICS AND POLITICS OF CHINA-PAKISTAN ECONOMIC CORRIDOR AND BALOCHISTAN
MANZOOR AHMED
As part of the enormous new Silk Route project or the One Belt One Road initiative, the governments of Pakistan and China developed a proposal in the mid-2000s to create an economic corridor from Kashgar, Xinjiang, in China to Gwadar, Balochistan, in Pakistan with an aim to promote national, bilateral, and international economic integration. Essentially driven to improve regional and global trade networks, the resulting China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was formally launched in 2013 with the initially planned portfolio of infrastructure, energy, and economic projects worth around $64 billion. Amidst an optimism in Pakistan of CPEC having a transformational effect on the economy, there is an extensive public debate in Pakistan about the potential impact of CPEC on the already ..
Read More
SOUTH ASIAN SECURITY COMPLEX AND NUCLEAR ARMS RACE
WAQAR HUSSAIN, KHURRAM MAQSOOD AHMAD,
AND FAIZ UR REHMAN
South Asian security dynamics are characterised by divergent security goals of India and Pakistan. Pakistan developed nuclear weapons as a power balancer against India, which was at an advantageous position over Pakistan in terms of conventional weaponry and forces. As there exists a balance of power, thanks to the possession of nuclear weapons often referred to as the balance of terror, there is strategic stability in South Asia. However, this strategic stability comes at the expense of continued nuclear armaments and technology development by India and Pakistan. There is a peculiar nature of competition between India and Pakistan ..
Read More
Daily Updates
Blog
Chinese Consulate Attack in Karachi
Agha Hussain Akram
The attack by terrorists of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) on the Chinese Consulate in Karachi on 23 September 2018 represents a sign of hostility from numerous external actors toward the welfare of Pakistan. It is important to note that the BLA is a terrorist organization whose leaders have openly attended talks in India in the past and which, despite frequent targeting of innocent civilians as its victims, finds refuge in European states such as the UK and Switzerland. Sources have also stated that a famous BLA commander affiliated with the attackers is being treated medically in India. The US-backed Kabul regime is also complicit in supporting such anti-Pakistan terrorists.
The attack is significant because it is part of the joint strategic policy of several external actors to attack Pakistan on numerous fronts as part of what is often described as hybrid warfare ¬– warfare using overt and also covert, deniable means involving information propaganda and support to paramilitary groups and non-state actors. The attack itself represented an attempt to isolate Pakistan from a close ally in China by driving a wedge between the two, with the ‘isolation of Pakistan’ being ...
Read More
Opportunity
Kodikara Fellowships - 2020
The Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS) invites research grant applications for its
annual Kodikara Fellowship Programme. The grants are offered to young South Asians, aged
between 25-35 years, to conduct policy relevant research on strategic and international issues of
contemporary South Asian interest. An award of USD 2000 will be made available for each
Research Fellow to conduct research. The fellowship is tenable for six months, commencing in
2020.
Read More
Opportunity
HCA Spring Academy 2020
American Studies
Culture, Economics, Geography, History, Literature, Politics & Religion
HCA Spring Academy 2020
• An international network for Ph.D. students
• A one-week interdisciplinary conference at Heidelberg
• March 23-27, 2020
• Deadline for applications: November 15, 2019
• www.hca-springacademy.de
Read More
Opportunity
11th Farabi International Award on Humanities and Islamic Studies
Applications are invited from researchers/scholars for "11th Farabi International Award on Humanities and Islamic Studies" in two categories i.e.of Iranian and Islamic Studies. For this purpose, distinguished works completed by Pakistani Researchers during last three years form March 2016 to March 2019 can be submitted for scrutiny and evaluation to the "Farabi Award Secretariat" till October 07, 2019 through website of the award as: www.farabiaward.ir.
Read More
Regional Studies is quarterly journal published by the Institute of Regional Studies. It is also Higher Education Commission . . 
Institute of Regional Studies annual report of the year of 2018.
SOUTH ASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA: BUILDING ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL LINKAGES
GLOBAL TERRORISM: GENESIS, IMPLICATIONS, REMEDIAL & COUNTERMEASURES
AFGHANISTAN: UNABATED TURMOIL
