ISLAMABAD: President of the Young Parliamentarians Forum (YPF) of the National Assembly, MNA Syeda Nosheen Iftikhar, has stressed the need to strengthen parliamentarians’ capacity to contribute more effectively to improving governance.

She was addressing the inaugural session of a two-day Post-Legislative Scrutiny (PLS) Workshop for Members of the National Assembly.

She said the YPF believes in institutionalising post-legislative scrutiny, which will enable Parliament to move beyond the enactment of legislation and ensure its effective implementation in both letter and spirit.

She added that laws must safeguard constitutional rights, improve governance and reinforce democratic accountability.

The inaugural session was attended by MNAs Raja Osama Sarwar, Shahida Khan, Babar Nawaz Khan, Akhtar Bibi, Syed Shah Ahad Ali Shah, Shamaila Rana, Miqdad Ali Khan, Sadaf Ihsan, Danyal Chaudhary, Makhdoom Zain Hussain Qureshi and Neelum Kumari.

The workshop aimed to equip parliamentarians with the knowledge, skills and practical tools needed to undertake effective post-legislative scrutiny, enabling them to assess whether laws enacted by Parliament are being implemented in their true letter and spirit and are achieving their intended outcomes.

The initiative also sought to strengthen Parliament’s oversight role by fostering a culture of continuous legislative evaluation, ensuring executive accountability, identifying implementation gaps and promoting evidence-based improvements to existing laws for the benefit of the people of Pakistan. Syeda Nosheen Iftikhar inaugurated the workshop by outlining its objectives, setting participants’ expectations and highlighting the forum’s ongoing efforts to strengthen the capacity of YPF chapters across the country.

The inaugural session also featured welcome remarks by Raja Shoaib Akbar, Executive Director of the Shaoor Foundation for Education and Awareness (SFEA). The technical sessions on “What and Why of Legislative Scrutiny” and “Evaluating Law Effectiveness” were conducted by Syed Shamoon Hashmi, Special Secretary (Special Initiatives), National Assembly Secretariat.

Through these sessions, participants gained a comprehensive understanding of Parliament’s oversight responsibilities, international best practices in post-legislative scrutiny, tools for assessing legislative effectiveness, and practical approaches to evaluating the implementation and impact of laws.

The workshop also featured an interactive post-budget session titled “Federal Budget and Youth Challenges”, facilitated by Mukhtar Ahmad Ali, Executive Director of the Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) and founder of the Citizens Network for Budget Accountability (CNBA).

The session focused on analysing the Federal Budget 2026-27 from a youth perspective and examined Parliament’s role in addressing emerging challenges through effective budgetary oversight and legislative interventions.

Concluding the first day’s proceedings, Syeda Nosheen Iftikhar highlighted the key takeaways from the deliberations and reaffirmed the forum’s commitment to institutionalising post-legislative scrutiny as an essential component of effective parliamentary oversight.

She said the recommendations emerging from the workshop would contribute to strengthening parliamentary committees and promoting a more responsive, transparent and citizen-centric legislative process in Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2026