1st Meeting 2026

1. Welcome and Introductions

• Prof. Dr. Sajida Zaki welcomed members to the first meeting of the newly constituted Board of Governors.
• She noted that the reconstitution was intended to ensure that all members, including the Chair and Vice Chair, serve under a defined tenure, and thanked everyone for their past contributions before inviting introductions.
• Dr. Muntazir Mehdi welcomed the new members and outlined the meeting's agenda: Board membership and portfolios, the upcoming conference, the LAP book project, and any other pending business.
•  

2. Board Membership and Portfolios

• The Board currently has six members against a previous strength of about eight, and it was agreed that two additional members are needed.
• Prof. Dr. Qaisar Khan has been given the responsibility of continuing to lead the HR and IT Support portfolio.
• Dr. Tariq Hassan Umrani has been given the responsibility of the Webinars & Trainings portfolio (previously led by Dr. Shamim Ali), and will work alongside Dr. Suhail Sarhandi, who has run this portfolio for the past two years.
• Dr. Suhail Sarhandi has also been given the responsibility of "Managing Director of Languages," a designation carried over from a decision of the previous Board tenure.
• Prof. Dr. Muhammad Asim Mahmood has been given the responsibility of continuing to lead Conference Management.
• The Press/Communications and Social Media portfolio remains open; Dr. Muhammad Kamal Khan has been proposed to take this on, including oversight of the pending LAP journal, subject to his consent.
• Prof. Dr. Habibullah Pathan has been proposed to take up the International Linkages portfolio, given his affiliation with a university abroad.
• The Board also discussed adding a further member from Balochistan or Kashmir, with Dr. Nadeem Bukhari's name raised in connection with hosting the next conference.
• Prof. Dr. Qaisar Khan raised a concern that departmental/team support for various Board portfolios needs to be revisited, as some previous team members have relocated or are no longer available.
• Dr. Suhail Sarhandi has been given the responsibility of presenting a plan for the "Managing Director of Languages" role at the next meeting.
• Each portfolio holder has been given the responsibility of constituting their own working team, to be approved by the Board, with Dr. Muntazir Mehdi supporting the identification of additional members.
•  

3. Activity Planning: Webinars, Trainings and Outreach

• Dr. Suhail Sarhandi reported that, with support from Syeda Malika Zahra and Hasanat Ahmad, the previous team conducted more than 18 seminars/webinars over the past two years, generally scheduled on Saturdays from 4–5 PM, with free registration and certificates offered for select sessions.
• Prof. Dr. Sajida Zaki proposed developing a structured annual calendar of trainings, workshops and professional sessions — one free session per month alongside periodic paid, certificated sessions curated for quality and relevance.
• Dr. Tariq Hassan Umrani agreed that specific topics and speakers could be finalized one to three months in advance rather than a full year ahead.
• Dr. Muntazir Mehdi proposed a target of six webinars and two in-person trainings (one in Sindh, one in Punjab) by December 2026, focused on practical themes such as research supervision and teaching.
• Dr. Suhail Sarhandi additionally suggested introducing a periodic e-newsletter to compile LAP correspondence and activities, and pursuing formal collaborations with university professional-development units, alongside a joint approach to HEC regarding a regulatory body for linguistics.
• The Secretariat team has been given the responsibility of recirculating the previously-planned interest-survey link in the LAP group to gauge members' preferred training/webinar topics ahead of calendar planning.
• The social media team has been given the responsibility of strengthening its role in publicizing LAP activities and outcomes.
•  

4. Conference Update (13th LAP / ICLAP Conference)

• Dr. Muntazir Mehdi and Prof. Dr. Muhammad Asim Mahmood reported on efforts to identify a host institution for the next conference.
• Several options in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan did not materialize due to the unavailability of a supporting Vice Chancellor or HOD.
• Discussions have since progressed with Azad Jammu & Kashmir University, Muzaffarabad, where the Vice Chancellor and the relevant HOD, Dr. Nadeem Bukhari, have both given preliminary agreement to host.
• Prof. Dr. Muhammad Asim Mahmood and Prof. Dr. Sajida Zaki emphasized that future conferences should be awarded through a transparent Call for Conference process, open to HEC-recognized public and private universities, rather than arranged informally.
• A formal call for proposals will be issued for each future conference; for the 2027 conference, this process begins now, with a decision expected within one to two months of the call being issued.
• Any proposal already received from AJK University / Dr. Nadeem Bukhari will be considered on priority alongside others received through the open call.
• Prof. Dr. Muhammad Asim Mahmood has been given the responsibility of preparing a proposal template for prospective host universities within two weeks and circulating it for Board approval by circulation.
•  

5. LAP Book Project — Language Policy and Planning in Pakistan

• Prof. Dr. Sajida Zaki, who leads the editorial team along with Dr. Muntazir Mehdi, updated the Board on the book's progress.
• Of 14 chapter proposals originally accepted, 12 chapters proceeded to development; the project is now in its second phase of editing, and 8 of the 12 chapters have been returned to authors for major revisions.
• Book editing takes considerably longer than journal or magazine publishing because the volume must cohere thematically across all chapters.
• In response to a query from Dr. Suhail Sarhandi about the visibility of the call for chapters, it was clarified that the call, author guidelines, and timelines were previously posted on the LAP website, and the guidelines document was shared again in the Board group during the meeting.
• Prof. Dr. Sajida Zaki, as editorial lead, has been given the responsibility of continuing the second phase of editing, with the aim of submitting the completed manuscript to a publisher, making it available on the LAP website, and applying for an ISBN.
•  

Secretary
Syeda Malika Zahra / LAP Secretariat