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Youth Parliament Pakistan: Third Session
Bereaved Balochistan needs more from the government

Islamabad, February 20, 2009: Youth Parliament strongly supported the rights of Balochi brothers, demanding fairer and practical review of the NFC award. The Youth Parliament session was devoted today to addressing the issues of Balochistan. The resolution was moved by Ms. Gul Bano (YP54-Sindh06) and Mr. Moin Akhtar (YP30-Punjab11).

“Take the people of Balochistan in confidence over the planning and execution of mega-projects in the province, “demanded the Youth Parliament. This, they proposed, shall keep in view, their interests of employment opportunities, technical and vocational education and political representation of the province. The house carried out an emotionally-charged debate over the bereavement of Balochistan and strongly urged the government to prioritize the issue of NFC Award as a sure step towards national integration.

Business of the house today focused on the case of missing persons; dearth of vocational and technical institutes and inclusion of the wishes of the inhabitants of Balochistan in major political and strategic decisions, etc. The business began with a calling attention notice placed by Mr. Niaz Muhammad (YP04-Balochistan02) and Umair Farrukh Raja (YP36-Punjab17) on the abduction of UN Representative, John Solecki and the subsequent demand of abductors to release the missing persons of Balochistan including Zareena Marri. While the movers stressed on keeping the international image of the country from being maligned any further, the opposing members expressed sympathies towards the missing persons and demanded the government to bring the families of the missing persons to justice, not withstanding any international pressures. Leader of the house, however, urged the government to strengthen the security of international personalities and swiftly address the issue as opposed to giving the message of ‘indifference’ to the international community.

A separate resolution, to take special measures for the release of the missing persons of Balochistan, was moved by Mr. Rahim Bakhsh Khetran (YP07-Balochistan05), Mr. Taimur Sikandar Choudhry (YP40-Punjab21) and Mr. Sufian Ahmad Bajar (YP39-Punjab20).  This resolution demanded of the government to release the ‘nearly six thousand missing persons’ of Balochistan including 140 women. The movers urged the government to prosecute any element violating Pakistani law and try them in Pakistani courts, as per the constitution of Pakistan. Reflecting on the situation in Balochistan, members of the youth parliament argued that the ‘internationally exposed’ unrest in the region, with missing persons being a favourite subject of criticism from the western media, serve as inviting targets for external exploitation. The house urged the government to further the suo moto action against the missing persons as initiated by Chaudhry Iftikhar. They also proposed community policing in Baluchistan as practised by other provinces and other countries.  This resolution was passed with a unanimous vote.

Next resolution moved by Mr. Sadan Nasir (YP06-Balochistan05), Mr. Haider Butt (YP46-Punjab27) and Mr. Asad Asghar Janjua (YP37-Punjab18) focused on vocational training programmes for the youth of Balochistan to prepare them for prospective job opportunities generating from the mega projects in the region. In the debate that ensued both sides of the house spoke for the rights of the people of Balochistan to benefit from the resources of their region and urged the government to provide them with greater opportunities to do away with general despair among the people and thus move towards national integration. This resolution was passed with a unanimous vote as well.

Later, the selected 15 MYPs delivered presentations on the crisis simulation exercise in which they briefed the MYPs with their policy options and took their questions thus holding an interactive debate over the crisis scenario. In the end the members commended the initiative of youth parliament of conducting this innovative exercise as it had been a wholesome learning experience for the participants.

Tomorrow’s business of the house will be based on the subject of Terrorism and Extremism. The Youth Parliament will also be hosting Mr. Talat Hussain, Executive Director of AAJ News to benefit from his expert views on the subject.

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