Wilson Center Awards Pakistan Scholarship 2011

WASHINGTON — The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, in collaboration with the Fellowship Fund for Pakistan (FFFP), a charitable trust based in Karachi, today announced the appointment of Zahid Hussain as the Wilson Center’s new Pakistan Scholar. Zahid Hussain will spend nine months in residence at the Wilson Center beginning in September 2011, carrying out research and writing a book on Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and regional security.

Zahid Hussain is an award-winning journalist and writer. He is a senior editor with the Pakistani magazine Newsline and a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and the Times of London. He has also covered Pakistan and Afghanistan for Newsweek, the Associated Press, and the Economist. He is the author of The Scorpion’s Tale: The Relentless Rise of Islamic Militants in Pakistan—and How It Threatens America (Free Press, 2010) and Frontline Pakistan: The Struggle with Militant Islam (Columbia University Press, 2007).

Zahid Hussain will succeed Huma Yusuf, the Wilson Center’s 2010-11 Pakistan Scholar. During her stay at the Center, Yusuf worked on a book looking at the intersection of media, politics, and public policy in Pakistan.

The Pakistan Scholar Program is the centerpoint of the Wilson Center’s Pakistan initiative. The fellowship competition is open to men and women from Pakistan or of Pakistani origin. Applications are accepted from individuals in academia, business, journalism, government, law, and related professions. Candidates must be currently pursuing research on key public policy issues facing Pakistan, research designed to bridge the gap between the academic and the policymaking worlds. The selection process is a two-tier process, consisting of application evaluation and personal interviews conducted by an independent, international Advisory Council of the FFFP, composed of eminent individuals from the fields of politics, diplomacy, business, economics, academia, and journalism, and followed by final selection by a Wilson Center selection panel.

The Fellowship Fund for Pakistan was established in 2003 to provide Pakistan’s most eminent thinkers with opportunities to participate in international deliberations on current and future issues facing Pakistan through dialogue with global opinion leaders and policymakers, scholars, and other experts. FFFP seeks to promote non-partisan scholarship at international forums in order to encourage free, informed, and serious dialogue on issues of public interest to Pakistan and the United States.

The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars is the living, national memorial to President Wilson, created by Congress in 1968 and headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Center establishes and maintains a neutral forum for free, open, and informed dialogue. It is a nonpartisan institution, supported by public and private funds and engaged in the study of national and world affairs.