ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser placed the first braille copy of the 1973 Constitution in the house during the budget session 2021-22.

He briefed the house about the historic milestones achieved to make the parliament friendly for people with disabilities (PWDs).

The speaker said Pakistan’s parliament was the first in the region to have converted its Constitution into braille and made the official website of the National Assembly accessible to the visually-impaired people. He also said the Parliament House had become the first building to complete disability audit for the first time in the history and made it accessible to people with disabilities.

Mr Qaiser remarked about the importance of parliamentary diplomacy to enhance regional prosperity and development. He informed the house that successful occurrence of the second general conference of Parliamentary Assembly of Economic Cooperation Organisation (PAECO) indicated the success of incumbent parliament to enhance parliamentary diplomacy. He said the National Assembly Secretariat successfully hosted this conference where ECO members unanimously denounced the brutalities on innocent Kashmiris in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu Kashmir in the ‘Islamabad Declaration’.

The speaker also informed the house that Islamabad was declared a permanent secretariat of PAECO and member countries unanimously elected him as the organisation’s president.

The speaker informed the house that the National Assembly Secretariat was planning to commemorate platinum ceremony of establishment of the house on August 10, 2021 and sought suggestion from the members in this regard. He also emphasised that the house represented the common people and both treasury and opposition benches had collective responsibility to maintain its integrity and decorum.

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2021