A discussion with
Major Ikram Sehgal
Defense Analyst and Chairman,
Pathfinder Group Pakistan
Dr. Hassan Abbas
Author of 'The Taliban Revival' and Chair, Department of Regional and Analytical Studies, College of International Security Affairs
National Defense University
Moderated by
Mr. Shuja Nawaz
Director, South Asia Center
Atlantic Council
Ikram Sehgal is the chairman of Pathfinder Group, comprising two of Pakistan’s largest private security companies with 15,000 employees in more than fifty cities and towns in Pakistan, supported independently by electronics security and facility services companies. After graduating from Pakistan Military Academy, Mr. Sehgal served in the Pakistan Army in the Infantry and Army Aviation, becoming the first Pakistani prisoner of war in history to escape from India in July 1971. While commanding a rifle company during the Indo-Pak war he was given “battlefield promotion” to the rank of major on December 13, 1971. He presently serves as director of Bank Alfalah Ltd and General Tyre Ltd, a foundation member of the World Economic Forum, and on the business advisory board for the International Organization for Migration. He is a director of EastWest Institute. Sehgal is the publisher and chief editor of Defense Journal and writes weekly columns for various magazines and newspapers. Presently, he is the chairman of the Defense & Security Committee of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors.
Hassan Abbas is a professor of international security studies at National Defense University's College of International Security Affairs. He is also a senior advisor at Asia Society and a nonresident fellow at Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. He became a senior advisor at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs (CSIA) at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (2009-11), after having been a research fellow (2005-09). He was the distinguished Quaid-i-Azam chair professor at Columbia University before joining CISA and has previously held fellowships at Harvard Law School and Asia Society in New York. He regularly appears as an analyst on media including CNN, ABC, BBC, C-Span, and GEO TV, and writes pieces for various leading international newspapers and academic publications. Abbas’ well-acclaimed book Pakistan's Drift into Extremism: Allah, the Army and America's War on Terror< /em> (M E Sharpe, 2004) remains on bestseller lists in Pakistan. His latest book, The Taliban Revival, chronicles the Taliban’s survival and resurgence after 2001, through firsthand research and interviews in the area, and argues that understanding the causes of “talibanization” is essential for reversing its momentum in the region.
TIME: 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Atlantic Council
1030 15th St. NW, 12th Floor
Washington, DC 20005
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