March/April 2004
News

University Unit to aid South Asian Strategic Stability

With an initial grant of £450,000 the University has created a new unit to identify ways of reducing tensions around weapons of mass destruction in South Asia.

The South Asian Strategic Stability Unit (SASSU) is based in the Department of Peace Studies at the University and was formally created in March 2004.

SASSU Director Shaun Gregory (right) with Air/Army Adviser for the High Commission for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Col Zubair Hayat

The Unit will host scholars from across the South Asian region to discuss a range of issues relating to the tensions between the bordering nuclear countries of India and Pakistan.

Head of the Department of Peace Studies and SASSU Director Shaun Gregory said: "We are very grateful to the Education Ministry of Pakistan for supporting the Unit and for guaranteeing its independence.

"The Government of Pakistan has shown an innovative and inclusive approach to regional security problem solving by supporting SASSU at Bradford and we intend to work hard to promote arms control and to contribute to improving security relationships between India and Pakistan and addressing sources of tension and crisis across the region."

The SASSU will invite junior and senior academics to be based at the University under scholarships to carry out research and produce reports and papers. These scholarships will be offered to academics from countries across the region including Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka.

Shaun added: "We hope that these scholars will be able to go back to the region with new skills and new ideas which they can then input into the academic communities and policy processes. We hope also to learn from what they have to teach the wider international community."

The Unit will also host a series of workshops and conferences and develop an awards scheme for previously unrecognised academic work into security in South Asia. The issues addressed are likely to include nuclear weapons and stability in India and Pakistan, conventional-nuclear linkage, issues of political and social stability, and the ongoing tensions between the two countries around the disputed region of Kashmir.

Maria Sultan, currently research assistant in the Department on nuclear arms control issues in the region, will become the SASSU's deputy director. Ms Sultan is currently on leave from her work as Research Fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad. The Programme Manager is Dr Simon Whitby.

Further details of SASSU can be found at www.bradford.ac.uk/acad/sassu

16 April 2004

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