"My trip to the halls of Oxford was quite exciting and a great learning experience. The Oxford Round Table (ORT) was attended by ten distinguishing academicians and scholars from the United States of America, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates. The discussions were, candid and quite extensive, aimed at enlarging our understanding on the role of religion in personal and political lives of peoples in different parts of the world. All sessions were facilitated by Canon Brian Mountfield, Vicar of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin Oxford, Canon of Christ Church Cathedral and Fellow of St. Hilda’s College, Oxford.

Based on my Doctoral research, I presented a paper on “The Jihad and State in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan.” While challenging the dominant perspective on the subject; the Pakistani state has been responsible for creating jihadis (holy warriors), it was argued that the inhabitants of FATA, Pakhtun tribesmen, have a strong jihadi tradition, well entrenched in their history and culture. Therefore, a holistic understanding of the situation is required to understand militant upsurge in Tribal Areas of Pakistan in the post-9/11 period. In addition to the valuable comments, I was admired for the clarity, organization and extensive research on the area of my deliberations. Currently, my paper is in the process of review for subsequent publication in one of the prestigious Oxford University Journals."