ISLAMABAD   -   The Karakoram Initiative launched its first policy paper titled “The Operational Strategy to Control Pakistan’s Implementation Landscape” in Lahore the other day.

The Karakoram Initiative is a Washington DC based advocacy and policy platform focusing on Pakistan and the region. It was formulated last year, and aims to leverage the potential and influence of South Asian, especially Pakistani-origin academics, policy specialists, industry experts based in Pakistan, and those part of the diaspora in the United States to assist policymaking, and address issues that Pakistan, and the broader South Asian regions tends to face.

The founding board includes Haroon Khawaja, Raza Ahmed Rumi, and Ahmed Nauraiz Rana. Haroon is the founding chairman of the PakPur Foundation, and Patron of the All-Pakistan Business Forum, and has served as an Advisor to the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Raza is a journalist, academic, and an author. He serves on the editorial board of The Friday Times and is the founding editor of NayaDaur Media. Nauraiz is an economist at the World Bank Group, and advises various governments, globally, on economic reform agendas.  According to the founders, The Karakoram Initiative will explore the opportunities that may help reshape the bilateral and regional trajectories of development, identify potential avenues of cooperation and foster constructive engagement through research, public and policy engagement, and innovative, multimedia productions. Among other objectives, this platform will act as a thought leader in repositioning the relationship between Pakistan and the United States in view of the fast changing political, economic, and technological imperatives in the global and national contexts.

The policy paper they have published highlights Pakistan’s population problem, presents the solutions on addressing the key challenges, and put forth the implementation plan for implementing the solutions.