Umar Cheema is Special Correspondent for the News International and has broken stories about

the relationship between the Inter-Services Intelligence agency and jihadi organizations and the illegal 

occupation of lands by Pakistani armed forces. He was abducted and tortured in mid-2010 after

publishing a string of articles critical of the Pakistan Army and has recently been awarded the Tully

Center Free Speech Award at Syracuse University, New York. Most recently, he has also been awarded

the Martha Gellhorn Prize which celebrates journalism that challenges secrecy and mendacity in public

affairs. Mr. Cheema will be talking about his on-ground experience of the Pakistani state’s efforts and

policies with relation to counter-terrorism, an issue which remains a major bone of contention in Pak-

US relations.