International Migration and Politics

A distinguished guest lecture arranged for International Relations students enrolled in “International Migration and Politics” and “Conflict Management and Resolution”. Pakistan’s leading peace scholar Professor Syed Sikander Mehdi, who has 50 years of teaching and research experience in Peace Studies and Migration Studies, delivered an extremely informative and engaging lecture on “Refugees, Migration and Conflicts in South Asia”. Besides teaching at the University of Dhaka and Karachi University, Professor Mehdi has taught peace studies and migration studies at the universities in Austria and Spain and availed research fellowships at the leading peace research centers in Norway, USA and Japan. For the first time, courses on peace studies and on migration studies were introduced by him in some public and private sector universities of Pakistan. He was also the founding director of the Refugee and Migration Studies at Karachi University.

In his lecture Professor Mehdi criticized Machiavellian thought and politics of conflicts, he emphasized on adopting a fresh, well integrated and cohesive approach for bringing sustainable peace and stability in South Asia. Through comparative analysis model, he built the context of how and why some regions are peaceful and developed while others are not. Professor Mehdi also suggested students to go abroad for higher education and better employment opportunities but always be available to serve Pakistan.
Following the enlightening talk by Professor Syed Sikander Mehdi, students and IR Faculty engaged fully in Q&A and discussion session. Dr. Samreen Bari (PM -IR) concluded by giving the vote of thanks. The session was organized and moderated by Dr. Sidra Ahmed.