Muhammad Amir Rana is a security and political analyst and the director of Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS), an independent Islamabad-based think tank. He has worked extensively on issues related to counter-terrorism, counter-extremism, and internal and regional security and politics. He was a founder member of PIPS when it was launched in January 2006 and had previously worked as a journalist with various Urdu and English daily newspapers from 1996 until 2004. He has also been affiliated with the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, Singapore as a visiting fellow. He has also given lectures at several universities and security institutes in Pakistan and abroad. Amir has published widely in national and international journals, professional publications and magazines. He writes regularly for Dawn, Pakistan’s leading English newspaper. Amir is also the editor of Pakistan Annual Security Report, and research journal ‘ Conflict and Peace Studies’.