1100-1105 hrs: Welcome and Introduction
1105-1125 hrs: Introductory remarks by Tilak Devasher
1125-1230 hrs: Discussion and Q&A
About the Speaker
Tilak Devasher is the author of three widely acclaimed books on Pakistan: ‘Pakistan: Courting the Abyss’ (2016), Khaled Ahmed; ‘Pakistan: At the Helm’ (2018), and ‘Pakistan: The Balochistan Conundrum’ (2019). He retired as Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat Government of India in October 2014. He is currently a member of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) and also a Consultant with the Vivekananda International Foundation, Distinguished Fellow, United Services Institution and emeritus faculty member, Rashtriya Raksha University.
About the book
The Pashtuns: A Contested History by Tilak Devasher
The Pashtuns are perhaps the largest ethnic group in the world without a country of their own. They inhabit a continuous stretch of land from the Hindu Kush to the Indus, across Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistan used the Pashtun-dominated areas in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) as a launching pad against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s and later during the US-led War on Terror.
In the process FATA was kept in a constitutional and informational black hole. The discontent finally burst in 2018 when the extra-judicial killing of a Pashtun youth led to widespread protests.
This book fulfils a gap in the geopolitical understanding of South Asia, given the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the shifting power equations in the region.