Board of Advisors

Shafqat Mehmood

Mr. Shafqat Mehmood is a well known columnist who writes on pertinent political issues in leading newspapers of Pakistan (www.thenews.com.pk). Hailing from Punjab, Mr. Shafqat Mehmood has also remained a member of the Upper House of Pakistani Parliament.

Usman Qazi

Mr. Usman Qazi (www.usmanqazi.com) is a community development, human rights and humanitarian relief worker hailing from the Balochistan province of Pakistan. He has about twelve years' experience of working in the field of sustainable community development, capacity building and humanitarian relief with a special focus on water resource management on various projects funded by The World Bank, The Netherlands Government, Department for International Development (UK), The Asian Development Bank and the United Nations to mention a few.

Sherry Rehman

Ms. Sherry Rehman is a Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan hailing from the Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians(www.ppp.org.pk) headed by the twice elected former Prime Minister Mohtramma Benazir Bhutto. Ms. Rehman,hailing from the Sindh province of Pakistan also serves as the Central Information Secretary of the Party. A journalist by profession, she was the Managing Editor of the Herald magazine before entering politics and also a founding member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. In March 2002, Ms. Rehman was awarded the Overseas Award for Excellence in journalism by the British House of Lords.

Syed Mohammad Ali

Mr. Syed Mohammad Ali (www.policy.hu/ali) is a professional researcher with over a decade of experience in the social development sector having worked with several multilateral, international and local development agencies, as well as leading consultancies and development practitioners in Pakistan.He is also an international fellow of the Open Society Institute (OSI) .Hailing from Punjab, Mr. Syed Mohammad Ali is also a freelance columnist writing a weekly op-ed column in one of Pakistans leading English newspapers. (www.dailytimes.com.pk)

Mr. Afrsyab Khattak

Mr. Afrasiab Khattak is a well known human rights and political activist associated with the Awami National Party (ANP) .Hailing from the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan, Mr. Khattak has served as the Chairperson and Vice Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) of which he has been a member of since 1989

Dr. Samina Ahmed

Samina Ahmed is Project Director for South Asia at the International Crisis Group. She has worked previously as a research fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, the Institute of Regional Studies, Islamabad, and the Pakistan Institute of International Affairs, Karachi. Dr. Ahmed has a Master’s in International Relations and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the Australian National University, Canberra. She has been the recipient of a number of research grants and awards and has worked as a visiting Fellow at Oxford University, a Visiting Researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and a Visiting Scholar at the Cooperative Monitoring Center, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque. Dr. Ahmed is the author of several book chapters and articles in academic journals and the print media. Her publications include “Pakistan: Democracy and the Islamists”, Political Islam: Challenges for U.S. Policy, the Aspen Institute Vol.21 (June 2006); “Nuclear Weapons and the Kargil Crisis: How and What Have Pakistanis Learned?” in Dittmer, ed., South Asia’s Nuclear Security Dilemma (New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2005); “Post-Taliban Afghanistan and South Asian Security” in Thakur and Wiggen, eds., South Asia in the World (United Nations University Press, Tokyo, 2004), and ”The United States and Terrorism in Southwest Asia: September 11 and Beyond”, International Security, Vol. 26, (Winter 2001/2002). Her website is at http://www.crisisgroup.org.