Data-Driven Policy Input

Rapid advancements in information and communication technologies have heightened vulnerabilities surrounding personal data, particularly in the absence of privacy-by-design in digital devices. This gap has enabled the weaponisation of digital tools for the targeted extraction and exploitation of personal information. Moreover, users frequently consent to data processing by private entities without reading terms and conditions, facilitating the commodification of personal data by advertisers and illicit brokers.

The lack of conceptual clarity surrounding violent extremism has hindered scholarly efforts to develop systematic understandings of the threat and effective policy responses to both its violent and non-violent forms. In particular, the absence of clearly defined concepts such as “radicalisation” has rendered much Counter-Terrorism Studies (CTS) research subjective and politically driven. This article contributes to the debate on who can be considered “radical” in the Pakistani context and explores how social concepts like radicalisation can be quantified for meaningful measurement of radicalisation and deradicalisation. Drawing on a survey conducted at six secular public-sector universities in Islamabad, the study highlights the vulnerability of university youth to radical influences and underscores the urgent need for targeted counter-radicalisation initiatives on university campuses.

This chapter examines public opinion in Pakistan regarding the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), analysing how perceptions of the project vary across regions, social groups, and levels of awareness. Drawing on survey-based evidence, it highlights a generally positive national outlook toward CPEC, driven by expectations of economic growth, infrastructure development, and employment generation. However, the findings also reveal significant gaps in information, regional disparities in perceived benefits, and concerns related to transparency, governance, and local inclusion. The chapter argues that while CPEC enjoys broad popular support, sustaining its legitimacy requires improved public communication, equitable distribution of gains, and greater engagement with local communities.

In recent years, the United Nations (UN) designated terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a group with links to the Pakistani security establishment, has been pursuing a strategy of political transition. This paper explores whether existing counter-terrorism frameworks such as the UN-led disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) and state-led de-radicalization and disengagement programs adequately explain the transition of terrorist organizations into the political arena. It is argued that a lack of organizational consensus, the failure to evolve an ideological consensus for renouncing violence and endorsing democracy, and unpromising domestic and international political environments are the strongest predictors of difficulties in achieving successful transformation.

The state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has been a source of enmity between Pakistan and India since 1947. Though the incident of 9/11 pushed Kashmir issue to backburner, the year 2016 proved as a turning point for the youth of Kashmir when martyrdom of Burhan Wani imparted a new dimension to freedom struggle and gave birth to a novel identity and philosophy of ‘wanism’. This article aims to review human rights violations in J&K and Pakistan’s dilemma of Kashmir policy in the post 2016 era. The study highlights trouble spots while analyzing policies of PML-N and PTI governments towards Kashmir conflict. It also sheds light on Prime Minister Modi’s coercive Kashmir policy and the response of key world countries.

Thirty years of unparalleled economic growth has made China a potential superpower, whose power is likely to grow. Despite immense concentration of the Chinese leadership on the economic affairs, China’s foreign policy has also marked an era of great success. China, in essence, is going global, while forging warm relations with its trading partners in Asia and the outside world. It has abandoned low profile foreign policy and is looking to get a greater share in economic and diplomatic engagements throughout the world. This change may pose a threat to some states, but China’s rise is peaceful and it is likely to integrate itself further into the liberal economic order.

Candidate voters are a significant percentage of the electorate in Pakistani Punjab. Consideration of the last three National Assembly elections shows a consistent attitude: Punjabi voters care more about candidates than they do about political parties. Political parties attract voters in urban districts, but they rely on “electables” (candidates with strong personality and loose party affiliation) in semi-urban and rural districts.

Cultural exchange between Pakistani and Chinese citizens increased after the launch of CPEC. Cooperation and understanding between the governments extended to collaboration and acceptance among the people. And people-to-people relations between the two sides strengthened. Students, artists, sportspersons, businesspeople, professionals, and workers travelled and developed a rapport with locals. A detailed study of the Sahiwal coal power plant and nearby villages shows that despite cultural diversity, managers and workers from both sides accepted the cultural diversity and worked for mutual benefit.

Environmental crises, precipitated by a globally dominant model of developmentalism, have changed the lives of less visible communities in geographical peripheries. This study draws on our participant observation of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in general as a massive infrastructural development project and the Qadirabad coal power plant as one of many CPEC projects where developmentalism and local lives intersect with each other. We have presented evidence of how massive development projects bring about consequential but disguised social and environmental impacts on locals. The locals' narratives show that the Qadirabad project has brought about economic, agricultural and environmental degradation in their lives. They believe that the governments in Pakistan are conscious of foreign projects with adverse effects on the everyday lived realities of the people but willfully choose to ignore them.

Cultural exchange between Pakistani and Chinese citizens increased after the launch of CPEC. Cooperation and understanding between the governments extended to collaboration and acceptance among the people. And people-to-people relations between the two sides strengthened. Students, artists, sportspersons, businesspeople, professionals, and workers travelled and developed a rapport with locals. A detailed study of the Sahiwal coal power plant and nearby villages, comprising data collection through fieldwork, shows that despite cultural diversity, managers and workers from both sides accepted the cultural diversity and worked for mutual benefit. People working at the power plant exchanged material and non-material cultures with each other that helped them manage cultural diversity. And they strengthened cross-cultural relations, for their exchanges were rewarding and mutually beneficial.

This study investigates the changing political trends in erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Analysis of the last three elections (2008, 2013, 2018) shows a substantial change in the region. The tribal structure, local traditions, power arrangement and electoral practices have changed significantly over a decade. The extension of the Political Parties Order to the region and its merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa stimulated political activities in the area that increased the political awareness of tribal people. The results of the 2013 and 2018 elections highlight the changes. Electoral activities, women participation and voter turnout increased with every election. Tribal youth joined existing political forums to demand their democratic rights. A significant percentage of the young, educated Pashtuns joined the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement in its demand for improved governance.

Khadim Rizvi’s open manifestation of religion helped him become one of the most popular leaders of Barelvi-Sunni Muslims in Pakistani Punjab. He emerged as the leader of a moral community during a crisis. After a series of protests and negotiated agreements with the federal and provincial governments, he was able to translate his support into electoral power. In the 2018 election, his TLP bagged 1.8 million votes (National Assembly seats) from Punjab. It was the first instance in recent political history when a newcomer religious party finished third in the province. No religious party had been able, in the last three elections (2008, 2013, 2018), to impact elections in Punjab as the TLP did in 2018.

Pakistan’s relevance to the immediate theater of the Russia–Ukraine war was the presence of its prime minister in Moscow on the eve of the Russian invasion. Pakistan proclaimed neutrality but later revisited its position in the face of compelling domestic and external constraints. The trajectory of Pakistan’s response to the war and its perception of the consequences of war for itself and the Indo-Pacific region reflected its historical interaction pattern with the United States, China, Russia, and India. External strategic challenges along with economic predicaments constrained the military leadership and the new government to change their stance on the war and consider it an opportunity to realign with the West (its familiar historical preference).