Imran stresses inclusive national security approach to meet emerging challenges.

ISLAMABAD -- Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday inaugurated the two-day Islamabad Security Dialogue, a first-of-its-kind security dialogue with an aim to define the country's new strategic direction in line with his vision of peace, regional connectivity, and development partnerships with the world.

Quoting National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf, who conceived the portal, Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said that the aim of the initiative is to 'bridge the gap between intellectuals and policymakers'.

The conference will seek to build a 'comprehensive security framework that will enable the country to unfold its untapped potential in becoming a hub of global and regional development', the PMO added.

The National Security Division (NSD) plans to make the conference an annual event to parallel the world's leading security dialogues, it further said.

Addressing the gathering, Prime Minister Imran said that Pakistan needed to have a debate on the concept of national security, observing it encompassed more than just matters and affairs related to strengthening the security forces.

'We are slowly realising that national security relates to areas which no one thinks about,' he said and added the security conference is a strategic forum envisioned as the country's leading intellectual platform for issues of national security.

He said that it was high time for Pakistan to get a stronghold of national security by expanding its domain inclusive of climate change, economic stability, and food security, besides focusing on military might.

The prime minister stressed the need for addressing the challenges of several non-traditional security threats confronting the people.

'A secure state is one where people own their country and realise they have stakes in it [the system],' he said, pointing that the 'goals of national security could not be achieved in an environment with a handful of affluent and a sea of the poor populace'.

Imran said that good relations with states and regional neighbours were also paramount for national security. He noted economic prosperity could not be sustained without peace in the neighborhood and adding Pakistan was poised to become a trade and transit hub for the extended region.

He noted that Pakistan was situated at the confluence of two big markets - Iran and Central Asia - besides China who he observed is the world's second-largest economy.

The prime minister called upon India to give the people of occupied Kashmir their...