September 18, 2008	Thursday	Ramazan 17, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Sept 17: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ms Sherry Rehman on Wednesday called for strengthening institutions and stressed that all national level decisions should be taken in parliament.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the Youth Parliament here, she observed that democracy meant empowerment of the people and this could only be ensured if the representatives of the people took collective decisions in the parliament.

She said parliament had two important functions to perform that were legislation and accountability. She said the standing committees formed the backbone of parliamentary democracy and this system should be strengthened. These committees play important role in transparency and accountability.

She stressed the need for creating consensus on national issues to overcome the challenges facing the country. She said that unity was the need of the hour to end economic and political instability. “To enjoy the benefits of the real democracy we must develop consensus on the national issues”, she said adding that strengthening of national institutions was also “much needed now”.

The Minister also advocated that the stakeholders should be taken on board while making legislation on various issues.

Sherry Rehman said that accommodating the viewpoint of the opponents was essence of democracy and marathon stamina was required for parliamentary debates as bulldozing legislation was against the spirit of democracy.

She said Pakistan People’s Party and other political parties worked with civil society organisations during the past few years and now the PPP wanted to involve them in lawmaking process.

The minister said that the present government had for the fist time allowed live coverage of Parliament’s proceedings and similar coverage of parliamentary committees would also be allowed.

She regretted that solutions to the problems in the past were sought outside parliament which made it irrelevant. She said the present government believes in sovereignty of the parliament.

Senator S.M Zafar said that in democracy political parties form the building blocks. However, he lamented the fact that most of the political parties were dominated by certain families which was not a good sign for real democracy.

He pointed out that individuals hijack the political parties stressing intra-party elections to show their commitment to democracy.

Former Deputy Speaker National Assembly Wazir Ahmed Jogezai said that by performing his duties as Speaker of the Youth Parliament he has realised that the youth had great potential and future of democracy was bright.

Pildat Executive Director Ahmed Bilal said in his speech that establishment and facilitation of the Youth Parliament was part of Pildat's focus on youth and creating awareness, educating them and training in the norms of politics and democracy.

Pildat feels that sustainable democratic institutions in Pakistan are not possible without youth’s involvement in the democratic and political process even if this involvement is simply as a citizen or voter.

The Youth Parliament Pakistan project was conceived, planned and implemented by PILDAT while it has been supported by the UK government's Strategic Priority Fund of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office as recognition of the importance of the young peoples involvement in democracy and democratic practices.

Youth Parliament Pakistan (YPP) is a platform of Pakistani Youth patterned after the National Assembly of Pakistan with 60 members from all over the country. The Youth Parliament has a one-year term and meets for 30 days over 5 sessions in Islamabad. The Youth Parliament has its own 2-party system, Leaders of the House and Opposition, a Cabinet, a Shadow Cabinet and Parliamentary Committees. Prime minister of Pakistan, Chairman Senate, Chief Justice of Pakistan, British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Federal Ministers and political leaders addressed or interacted with the Youth Parliament 2007. A Study Tour of selected members to the British Parliament and a Crisis Management Simulation Exercise are part of the Youth Parliament calendar during 2008.