Press Release

The Centre for Aerospace and security Studies (CASS) hosted a national conference entitled “Pakistan’s Quest for Security and Stability.” The event was attended by a large number of guests, including senior civil and military officials, academics, members of the diplomatic corps, and other dignitaries. Chairman Joint Chiefs of the Staff Committee (CJCSC) General Zubair Hayat was the Chief Guest, while Dr Ishrat Hussain was the Guest of Honour. 
President CASS, Air Chief Marshal (Retd) Kaleem Saadat in his opening remarks provided an overview of the challenges that Pakistan faces at the internal and external level. Highlighting some of the structural and institutional weaknesses, President CASS emphasized that unless we diagnose the problems correctly, it would be difficult to find out the right solution. 
Dr Ishrat Hussain highlighted the economic and political interface of the security and stability equation. He talked about major threats prevalent on the international and domestic level, in which he enlisted challenges posed by the retreat from globalization; climate change; lack of political stability; absence of national cohesion; institutional failure; and governance deficit, among others.
CJCSC General Zubair Mehmood Hayat NI (M) gave a detailed overview of global and regional security environment and highlighted several challenges that Pakistan is facing due to changing nature of strategic environment. Terming the Indian annexation of the disputed territory of Kashmir as violation of the UN Charter, the UN Security Council Resolutions, and international law, General Zubair stated that it is not acceptable to the Kashmiris as well as to Pakistan. In the end, he provided a future roadmap in the five domains, i.e. social, political, diplomatic, economic and military, while terming the economic recovery as the most vital requirement. On military preparedness General Zubair emphasized that all strands of our military should continue to be maintained, as was evident on Feb 27, 2019, when Pakistan provided a robust response to the Indian aggression. Reinforcing the importance of strategic capability, he stated that our Full Spectrum Deterrence (FSD) posture is within the policy of Credible Minimum Deterrence (CMD); we will not engage in arms race but will continue to maintain strategic balance in South Asia. 
Other speakers who spoke on the occasion included Amb (Retd) Riaz Khokhar, Mr Abid Qayum Suleri, Dr Umar Saif, Dr Usman Chohan and Air Vice Marshal (Retd) Shahzad Chaudary.