Dr. Asma Shakir Khawaja, a distinguished academician of Kashmiri descent, is the Founding Executive Director of the Centre for International Strategic Studies, Azad Jammu & Kashmir (CISS AJK) — the only woman ever appointed to such a position by Pakistan’s National Command Authority. With an illustrious career spanning academia and policy research, she previously served as Head of the Department of Strategic Studies at the National Defence University (NDU), Islamabad, where she was a founding faculty member and the pioneer behind Pakistan’s first Department of Peace and Conflict Studies, established in 2008. A scholar of global repute, Dr. Khawaja was selected for the prestigious Allama Iqbal Chair at the University of Cambridge in 2021. She is the author of the internationally acclaimed book Shaking Hands with Clenched Fists: The Grand Trunk Road to Confidence Building Measures between Pakistan and India, a seminal work presenting Pakistan’s perspective on conflict resolution with India. Currently serving as Chief Editor of Strategic Perspective: A Journal of Strategic Affairs—the first publication of its kind from Jammu & Kashmir—she continues to shape strategic discourse in the region. Dr. Khawaja earned her PhD in South Asian Studies from Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany, as a DAAD scholar, and holds multiple master’s degrees and an MPhil from Quaid-i-Azam University. Her diverse research interests span strategic stability, peacebuilding, geopolitics, energy politics, and women, peace, and security. A recipient of the Presidential Gold Medal of Merit and the APCSS Alumni Achievement Award (USA), Dr. Khawaja’s distinguished global engagements include fellowships with APCSS, IVLP, Rotary Peace, ICRC, DAAD, and the Marshall Center. She currently serves as President of the APCSS Alumni Association Pakistan, exemplifying leadership, scholarship, and commitment to peace and strategic stability.