The PIIA
owes its origins to the 19th and 20th centuries’ human concern for
peace which resulted in the setting up of institutes and councils of
world affairs in many countries of the world. The Indian Institute of
International Affairs (IIIA) was established in Delhi in 1936 and its
members voted to move it to Pakistan on the eve of the Partition. Khwaja
Sarwar Hasan, then its Secretary, shifted its library and all its
movable assets to Karachi in August 1947. The Pakistan Insitute of
International Affairs was founded in 1948 and was registered under the
Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860,in affiliation with the Royal
Institute of International Affairs,London and the Institute of Pacific
Relations, New York. Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan formally
inaugurated the Institute on 26 March 1948.
The Institute
disseminates research and knowledge about international developments,
particularly those having a direct bearing on the foreign policy
challenges of Pakistan, by arranging lectures, seminars and roundtable
discussions and publishing a quarterly journal Pakistan Horizon.
The Institute is precluded by its charter from taking an institutional
position on policy issues. The views contained in its publications or
expressed on its platform (in lectures and seminars) are those of the authors and speakers respectively
