The UCLA Burkle Center will be hosting a lecture by the former prime minister of Pakistan, Shaukat Aziz, who will discuss the issues dealing with Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Aziz, whose term concluded in 2007, is the first Prime Minister of Pakistan to complete a full term of office, said Alexandra Lieben, the deputy director of the Burkle Center.
“There were political upheavals which prevented other prime ministers from finishing their terms, which means former Prime Minister Aziz was very successful,” Lieben said.
An invitation was extended to Aziz so that the community could hear, first-hand, what is happening in Pakistan and Afghanistan, said Kal Raustiala, the director of the Burkle Center for International Relations.
While the world may portray Pakistan as a rogue state, Aziz does not conform to this view, Raustiala said.
“It is an opportunity to understand Pakistan, the implications for the war in Afghanistan, and the larger issues in the region,” Raustiala said.
The Burkle Center aims to serve the UCLA community by presenting lectures on the most important international relations issues, according to its Web site.
Aziz will be speaking for 20-30 minutes and will conclude with a Q&A session from the audience, Raustiala said.
Questions asked in a public setting such as this promote a better learning experience than could otherwise be obtained from a medium like the news, he added.
“We get a lot more out of the collaboration ““ the friction and the interaction that takes place when you put people in a room is more electrifying that way,” he said. “It will be a packed house and those who want to go, should go early.”
Tiffany Man, a fourth-year international developmental studies student, said she and her friends are attending the event to learn more about the ground situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“We want to hear his opinion on the Afghanistan-Pakistan relations and his opinion on what we can do to achieve peace in that region,” she said.
Ayla Dillard, the program manager for the Burkle Center, said an entire podcast of the lecture will be posted on the center’s Web site.
More information about the lecture can be found at international.ucla.edu/burkle/