The second day of the First Annual Conference on Social Sciences organised by Lahore School of Economics, focused on the theme of Politics in Pakistan: External and Internal Contexts.The day proceeded with the introductory remarks by Prof. Sajjad Naseer , a Senior Fellow at the Lahore School of Economics. For the first session on “Politics in Pakistan: The External Context” the three presenters Dr Zafar Jaspal, Dr Nazir Hussain and Dr Muhammad Shoaib Pervez took up Afghanistan, China and India respectively and discussed the emerging strategic environment in Pakistan in relation to these countries. The session concluded with Prof. Hassan Askari’s remarks on the three perspectives and the summing up by Ambassader Shamshad Ahmad Khan (The Ex-foreign Secretary) who acted as the Chair for the session.
The second session on “Politics in Pakistan: The Internal Context” was chaired by Dr Shahid Amjad Chaudhry, the rector of Lahore School of Economics while Prof. Sajjad Naseer acted as the discussant. The session began with Prof. Dr Hassan Askari’s paper on “Federalism in Pakistan”, and was followed by I.A. Rehman’s discussion on “The emergence of Media as a power centre and its likely implications for the political development of Pakistan”. Dr Saeed Shafqat followed suit with “The conundrum of policy making in Pakistan: Policy recommendations”. A large number of students from Lahore School of Economics took part in the Conference and contributed to the interactive sessions.