New Year Message

Dear Colleagues, Friends, Students, and Well-Wishers,

As we look ahead to 2026, I wish you all a year of peace, prosperity, good health, and happiness—across Pakistan and around the world.

Karachi skyline in 2025
Source: Karachi Skyline 2025 (Wikimedia Commons).

It gives me great pleasure to share that I am ready to launch the SIPEG website. This is a modest and humble beginning, but one that I hope will grow into an intellectually engaging and rewarding platform. We live in a global era often described as volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA). Pakistan, too, is navigating these turbulent waters. SIPEG aims to serve as a platform for thoughtful deliberation—one where we collectively seek to understand, interpret, and explain these complexities, from the global to the regional and the local, and to untangle uncertainty from ambiguity.

Why Launch SIPEG Now

For me, this is a venture into unfamiliar terrain. I do not claim to possess the required skills to manage such an enterprise, which naturally raises the question: why embark on this path? Over the years, I have learned that ideas must be tested, and risk-taking is an integral part of that process. This initiative reflects that belief. I rely, as I always have, on friends, students, and the goodwill of well-wishers—and it is this collective support that has sustained and encouraged me.

Gratitude and Acknowledgments

I am deeply indebted to many students and friends who urged me to move forward. I am grateful to all those who have agreed to serve as Advisors and Research Fellows/Associates, including my daughters. I remain particularly thankful to my friend Dr. Tayyeb Shabbir for his steadfast support of this venture. I also wish to acknowledge my former student, Ali Qadir Jan, and his colleague Aneeq of Tekstart, who designed the website. While the site is still a work in progress, it lays out the basic framework of what we can collectively build and accomplish.

Invitation to Engage

I warmly invite you to engage with SIPEG and to contribute in any way you can. Your suggestions, ideas, and critiques will always be most welcome.

With best wishes and warm regards,

Saeed Shafqat