ISLAMABAD, Feb 9: Leaders of two mainstream opposition political parties Friday urged the youth to play their role in restoration of real democracy in the country.

Speaking at a panel discussion organised by the US-based National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), they stressed the need to channelise the energy of youth for the betterment of the country.

The panel, which featured PPP Information Secretary Sherry Rehman, PML-N Information Secretary Ahsan Iqbal and PML-Q Senior Vice-President Yaqoot Jamilur Rehman, was held as part of a four- day workshop on political communications for the 48 participants in NDI’s programme ‘Strengthening Youth Participation in Political Parties in Pakistan’. Youth wing members from nine political parties attended the session.

Sherry Rahman said her party always looked towards youth wing for political activism and termed People’s Students Federation (PSF) and People’s Youth Organisation as building blocks. “We want to promote them and remove all curbs imposed on them,” she remarked.

She stressed the need to channelise youth and provide them resources for a positive change in country’s politics. She said the youth must be encouraged and given a hope that there was a future for organised and democratic politics in the country.

“We do not arm our youth as we do not believe in promoting gun-culture and ethnicity. We want our youth to stay away from politics of hopelessness, extremism and ethnicity,” she remarked. Ms Rehman said the PPP was breeding the culture of tolerance for all races, cultures and genders. She said democratic politics was the only way of keeping the federation stable and evolving a political consensus like it was done through the adoption of 1973 constitution.

PML-N Information Secretary Ahsan Iqbal said youth were faced with the challenge of promoting democratic culture and traditions.

He said Pakistan was a federation which could not survive without democratic governance. He said youth of Pakistan must become champions for restoration of democracy and use new technologies to spread the message of political parties.