The second day of Margalla Dialogue organized by Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) saw intellectuals and policy-makers address issues of regional integration, connectivity, the Algorithmic warfare, Pakistan’s soft power, social cohesion and internal security dynamics.
Federal Minister for IT & Telecommunications Shaza Fatima Khawaja, as a keynote speaker, said that technology has brought about a revolution in the world, and Artificial Intelligence has attained an inevitable status. She said the nature of warfare is shifting toward computing power, data, and algorithms, and Pakistan cannot stand behind in this race of modernisation.
She recalled how Islamabad is coping with the emerging realities of AI and its advancements, and informed that a roadmap is there to enrich the country with new dynamics of inventions.
She said there are vast opportunities and Pakistan has all the necessary ingredients in the form of technical experts, start-ups and a profound backing from the government.
“We are promoting production in both software and hardware sectors, and in the battle for truth, the situation has been handled effectively,” Shaza remarked.
Director Research IPRI Brig (retd) Dr Raashid Wali Janjua said that Artificial Intelligence is redefining warfare just as it is redefining human existence. He said for the first time in human history, nature, grammar and character are all changing together due to weaponization of AI.
The lethal autonomous weapon systems and the unmanned platforms like swarm drones are heading a new era where AI assisted armies would be able to take faster and lethal decisions beating armies that do not possess AI, he observed.
Dr Janjua said Gaza, Ukraine and Pakistan-India wars have showcased the first baby steps of AI assisted weaponry. “There is a need for a global consensus about amendments in International Humanitarian Law to put legal guardrails over use of AI in a fully autonomous role. There is also a need for erecting technical guardrails like ‘Kill switches’ to keep the human control embedded in the AI enabled weapons' architecture,” he noted.
Director Advocacy & Communications IPRI, Siddique Humayun said that power has always moved with invention. “From the casting of cannons in the Ottoman foundries to the circuitry of Silicon Valley, every age has carried its own instrument of dominance. Artificial Intelligence is the latest,” he observed.
He said that today AI is shaping how wars are fought, how narratives are built, and how states are governed. “Algorithms now command the flow of information, anticipate decisions, and define visibility. The battlefield has expanded to data networks and perception management, where influence and security are inseparable.”
Humayun said that AI is embedded in our financial markets, it is integral to our social platforms, with the power to mobilize nations and it has found itself in autonomous systems that now decide matters of life and death.
Javed Jabbar, while talking on soft power and evolution of nation, said that the hard component of gray power is something we possess but do not deploy or use. One aspect of it, which should never be used, is our nuclear capability. Yet, it undeniably constitutes an essential element of hard power.
He said it is very easy to take a shot of a burning building or where people are killing each other, but not where people are healing each other and doing good things for each other.
Syed Mehar Ali Shah, Indus Water Commissioner of Pakistan, told the Margalla Dialogue participants that “a nation born of rivers needs to show to the world that we can live in peace and harmony through equitable and responsible use of river waters both amongst ourselves and with the upper riparian states”.
Former Core Commander, Lt Gen (retd) Aamer Riaz said that “we need strong partnerships with forces of stability, and journey from aid to equity, as well as effective employment of our gray power, i.e., combination of soft and hard power.
Pakistan’s former Permanent Representative to Afghanistan, Ambassador Asif Ali Durrani said that there are certain political positions taken by states which are causing problems for us. He said Afghanistan in the past 46 years is in a state of flux, and if you look at the geography, then it becomes a stumbling block as far as smooth connectivity is concerned.
Former CJCSC Gen. Ehsanul Haq remarked, “…we know how to go ahead in connectivity, but there are certain mindsets that hinder it. Afghanistan is an issue but still we are handling it in the form of trade and humanitarian assistance.”
He said that more than four years of dialogue with the Taliban have proven futile forcing Pakistan to take action against terrorist sanctuaries. He added, regional initiatives like Moscow format, and Tashkent dialogue should bear fruit in nudging the Taliban government towards peace.
Speakers noted that Afghanistan’s biggest dilemma is lack of recognition from the world at large, still regional states are obliging the war-torn country in the form of transit trade, commercial interaction and refugees. They remarked that only a multilateral approach can help overcome this phenomenon, and further trust and tranquility.
Kazakhstan Ambassador to Pakistan Yerzhan Kistafin said that his country shares more than 7000 kms border with Russia, a distance equal to one from London to New York, and is the largest landlocked country in the region. He called for a collective strategy to deal with issues such as drug trafficking, terrorism and connectivity, apart from investment. He pointed out that Pakistan and Kazakhstan possess a trade potential of more than $14bn.
“We need multimedia corridors like the Middle Corridor and North South, and Pakistan should get connected with these, as especially promising is Balochistan-Afghanistan-Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan corridor. “
Idrees Zaman, a former Afghanistan diplomat, noted that peace cannot come without a stable Afghanistan and for that regional coherence is needed. He also believed that peace in Afghanistan cannot be outsourced, and it’s time to move from uncertainty to predictability.
