Pakistani American scholar receives Peace Award

The University of North Texas president has given the prestigious Staff Contribution Award to a Pakistani American scholar and Assistant Dean at the University, Dr. Qaisar Abbas to recognize his extraordinary peace building activities. The University President Dr. V. Rawlins gave him the prestigious award in a ceremony last week for his extraordinary contributions to peace building and research initiatives. Dr. Qaisar Abbas developed and organized the First South Asia Peace Conference last November which brought activists, scholars, diplomats and South Asian community members to the University. Former Ambassador Husain Haqqani of Pakistan and Ambassador Ahmed Hakimi of Afghanistan were the keynote speakers at the Conference besides activists from India and Pakistan and a large number of scholars from all over the world who presented research work at the Conference. Dr. Qaisar is actively involved in peace building activities as a board member of the Dallas Peace Center. He is also working on a research project on media coverage of interstate conflicts in South Asia as Research Fellow of the Casselberry Peace Institute at his University.