Pathfinder Foundation participates in ‘Water: Future War and Peace in the Subcontinent’

Admiral Prof. Colombage at the Center for Global and Strategic Studies in Islamabad with CGSS current president Retired Major General Syed Khalid Amir Jeffry 

Pathfinder Foundation (PF) participated in a conference on ‘Water: Future War and Peace in the Subcontinent’ organised by Center for Global and Strategic Studies (CGSS) in Islamabad, Pakistan. Admiral Prof. Jayanath Colombage, Director, Center for Indo-Lanka initiatives and Law of the Sea of the PF represented the conference.

The CGSS is a non-profit institution with a mission to help improve policy and decision making through analysis and research. The research activities of CGSS focus on all subjects of relevance such as counter terrorism, political, energy, education, health, justice, environment and national and international affairs. Retired Major General Syed Khalid Amir Jeffry is the current president of CGSS. The keynote address was delivered by Federal Minister for Law and Justice of Pakistan, Mohammed Farogh Naseem, who spoke on the theme ‘Water Sharing: A critical evaluation of the Indus Valley Treaty’. There were many local and foreign speakers, who presented themes such as water resource management, water resources and climate change, war on water and melting glaciers – a growing concern for south Asia.

Admiral Colombage delivered his paper titled ‘Maritime Security Governance in the Indian Ocean Region’. He spoke about the mistrust and trust deficiency in the Indian Ocean region and the need for Confidence Building Measures (CBM) to avoid the current trust deficiency escalating into a conflict possibly involving even extra-regional powers. He cited the seventy-one years old Indo-Pakistan conflict as a major impediment for the progress of South Asia. Admiral highlighted how the Indian Ocean maritime domain is being exploited by pirates, terrorists, smugglers of humans, drugs and weapons and Illegal fishermen.

Admiral Colombage also had discussions with the CGSS leadership, with a view to developing joint collaboration in research and visited the China Pakistan Economic Corridor Center of Excellence, National Agricultural Research Center and the world heritage site Taxila, one of the oldest Buddhist monasteries and the ancient city of Sirka.