Farhat Asif

Founder President

Farhat Asif is Award winning Public Diplomat by experience, Human Rights and Peace Activist by Choice, Researcher and Writer by Profession. Being a young woman from the Kashmir region, Farhat has more than fifteen years of experience of excellence working in academic, research and development sector as a researcher, analyst, writer, publisher, media planner and diplomatic relations professional. Farhat Asif has lived her entire life in Kashmir region affected by the long historical conflict. The conflict has heavily influenced her life and work, and inspired her to establish the Institute of Peace and Diplomatic Studies where she along with her other colleagues promote peace, tolerance through dialogue, training and advocacy by connecting various stakeholders groups and project Pakistan’s substantial role in peace building in the region and the world. Through her work, Farhat is projecting Pakistan’s peaceful image and is a co-founder Editor of the premier opinion based multilingual publication The Diplomatic Insight-publishing since 2008 with the thematic objective of Peace Through Informed Dialogue. Farhat has also established Pakistan-Shanghai Cooperation Organization Friendship Forum with key nine thematic areas to inspire communities to connect and develop together at the Peace and Intellect Silk Road having Pakistan’s substantial role in the region. Aside from academic research and training, Farhat focuses on playing a leading role in developing a multi-sectoral approach to further the Women Peace and Security agenda and guidelines according to the international conventions including UN1325. Through her efforts, Farhat established Center for Women Peace and Security Pakistan. Through center, she aims at bringing together academics, scholars, practitioners, activists and policy makers while providing them with a safe space to bring together their work and efforts to have a bigger impact on women’s lives in the region. They focus on ensuring and enhancing women’s participation and women’s roles in different spheres of Pakistani social political and economic agendas. Farhat is federal member of Women Regional Network, Aman-o-Nisa: Pakistan Women’s Coalition Against Extremism and is Pakistan’s representative of “Sisters Against Violent Extremism (SAVE), a project by Women Without Borders. She has also been invited by Ambassador Swanee Hunt at the Institute for Inclusive Security as one of 12 influential Pakistani women leaders. Recently, as a result of her leadership role at the Institute, IPDS has signed agreement of cooperation with Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS) – an intergovernmental organization having 26 countries for four continents as member of the Commission. Farhat and her staff is providing support to the Commission to grow and outreach to the entire developing world to collaborate on the Sustainable Development Goals through Science and Technology. Farhat Asif is the WINNER of N-Peace Award 2017 in the category of “Campaign for Action”. This award recognizes the work of a woman and a man whose mobilization in the advancement of women, peace and security, particularly at the sub-national level. N-Peace is managed by UNDP’s Bangkok Regional Hub with UNDP Offices across Indonesia, Pakistan, Myanmar, Nepal, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, in partnership with the Institute for Inclusive Security, Washington DC, USA. She has also been awarded the Fellowship of Global Change Leaders Program, 2018 at Coady International Institute, St. Francis Xavier University, in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. Farhat is currently doctoral fellow at School of Politics and International Relations, Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad where her primary research interest is Public Diplomacy within Intergovernmental Organizations and case study for Shanghai Cooperation Organization.