Asia-Pacific Foundation

The Asia-Pacific Foundation is a UK think tank, that describes itself as an "International Policy Assessment Group" [1].

History

The Asia-Pacific Foundation was launched in March 2001. According to the Jammu and Kashmir Daily Excelsior, a conference on terrorism in Asia was held in London to mark the launch of the foundation. The Excelsior's report characterised the focus of the conference as being Pakistan's alleged support for terrorism in the region. [2]

Personnel

• Director & CEO: M. J. Gohel
• Chairman: The Earl of Inchape
• Director for International Security: Sajjan M. Gohel
• APF Co-Ordination: Fiona Brown
• APF Events: Melissa Smith
• APF Development: Teresa De Santis
• APF Administration: Lisa Watson

M. J. Gohel is Sajjan Gohel's father. In their frequent appearances in print and broadcast media, the Gohels are described as, for example, "Counter-terrorism expert[s]" [3] and "security analyst[s]" [4]

Essentially, the Asia-Pacific Foundation is a family business led by MJ Gohel and supported by his son, Sajjan.

Website

As of July 2005, the Foundation's website describes itself as "...undergoing reconstruction" [5]. It has done so since sometime around September 2004 [6]. However, much of the website's previous content is still available on archived pages on the site. The ones which actually contain any content are:

• APF Bulletin
  • June 2001 bulletin (161KB Word doc)
  • Sept 2001 bulletin (164KB Word doc)
• Articles
• Transcripts
• Subscribe
• Links
• Organisation
• Contact us

Funding

The Foundation's "Organisation" page (which is no longer linked to from the homepage) states that:

"The Asia-Pacific Foundation is supported by donations and grants. It is totally independent of both public and private bodies and is not a lobbying vehicle for any country, political party, denominational group, ideological movement, or pressure group, be they in the West or in the Asia Pacific region." [7]

No information appears to have ever been published detailing the Foundation's funding sources.

An August 2001 article by Graham Chapman of Lancaster University, who as at July 2005 is chair of the British Association of South Asian Studies [8], characterised the APF as "clearly something with business money behind it". However he offered no evidence to support his claim. [9]

Board of Patrons and Advisory Board

Also on its "Organisation" page, the Foundation states that it "...maintains a Board of Patrons as well as an Advisory Board, whose members originate from many countries across the globe. In keeping with the Foundation's stated aim of bringing a new, fresh and inclusive approach to issues, its members are not only from academia, but also from the world of literature, business, medicine, politics, defence and the media." [10]

It does not appear to have ever published a concise list of members of either board, but some details can be gleaned from statements made in its publications.

Advisory Board

Previous members:

• Dr Rohan K Gunaratna (until at least Sept 2001) [11]

Contact details

Email: info AT apfoundation.org
Web: http://www.apfoundation.org/
Also available at www.asiapacificfoundation.org

The Foundation does not appear to have ever published a contact postal address or telephone number [12].

SourceWatch resources

• M. J. Gohel
• Rear Admiral Richard Cobbold
• Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies
• Sajjan M. Gohel

External links

• "International conference holds Pak responsible of abetting terrorism" (sic), Jammu and Kashmir Daily Excelsior, March 7, 2001.
• Graham Chapman, "The theoretical and empirical properties of communities of communicators" (481KB PDF), paper prepared for the SASNET conference, Lund, Sweden, August 2001.
• "Spanish Police Arrest 16 Islamic Terrorist Suspects (Update3)", Bloomberg, June 15 2005.
• "London Terror Probe Considers Suicide, Timer Theories (Update4)", Bloomberg, July 8, 2005.
• David Leppard and Nick Fielding, "The hate: Who planted the London bombs? Experts believe a new generation of angry young British Muslims has spawned its own terrorists]", The Sunday Times, July 10, 2005.
• Joe Friesen and Colin Freeze, "Attackers' simple plan limited deadly toll: Experts believe low-grade explosives were likely used to cause transit carnage", Globe and Mail, July 9, 2005.