Youth Parliament of Pakistan 2008-09

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Party Manifestoes
Comparison of Manifestoes of the two Political Parties of Youth Parliament, Pakistan 2008-09

No.	Issue	Position
No.	Issue	Blue Party (Liberal)	Green Party (Traditional)
1	Electoral Reforms:
a.	Age for Candidates for MNAs & MPAs	25 Years	25 Years (Same as at present)
b.	Proportional Representation	Status quo should be maintained	All National Assembly seats except those for women and non-Muslims be filled by direct contests between candidates in each constituency. (Present system)
2	Students Unions
a.	Students Unions in Colleges and Universities	Should be allowed subject to law	Should be allowed actively but with constraints such as no public expression of political party affiliation by candidates while canvassing etc; strict action against violence in campuses and/or hindrance in educational proceedings..
3	Economics
a.	Privatisation	No more privatisation of state enterprise.	A hybrid need to be developed between private and public sector. An utmost effort to improve indigenous industry over imports.
b.	Workers wages	Workers be given protection against low wages; Min Salary to be Rs. 5000/-	Workers salaries to be given protection against low wages; minimum salary to be Rs.5000/- (as opposed to Rs.3500/- at present)
c.	Taxation	Believes in heavier direct taxes on higher-income persons (progressive taxation)	Believes in heavier direct taxes on higher-income persons and reduction in taxes for wagers earing less than Rs.5000/-
4	Women Representation	Supports current quota for women in the Senate, National and Provincial Assemblies. Efforts should be made to increase representation through direct elections.	There should be a quota for women and support the current quota in the assembly, but also encourage the parties to promote women on general election seats.
5	Use of Religion in Elections	No party should be allowed to use the name of a religion to contest election or to use it to project its identity.	There should be no bar on projecting Islamic ideology by parties in Elections
6	FATA & PATA	1. FCR 1901 should be replaced by PPC. 2. Political Parties Act should be extended to FATA. 3. FATA be made a separate province.	A gradual approach should be adopted. FATA and PATA to be made a part of settled territories in 15 years.
7	Foreign Policy
a.	South Asia	Supports immediate visa liberation with SAARC countries, removal of most trade barriers, greater regional co-operation on security and energy issues. No support for greater political integration in the EU Style in the immediate future.	Insists on an honourable settlement of all disputes including the Kashmir dispute before normalization of relations with India. Kashmir dispute to be resolved on the basis of UN resolutions.
b.	USA	Considers that while close relations with the USA are important, it is more important to cultivate historical allies of good standing, such as China. Keeps in mind the failures of previous US governments to support Pakistan at key moments, and therefore wary of close ties with US.	Strongly deplores US policy in Iraq and opposes the presence of US troops there. Does not consider that the US should be assigned any particular importance. Considers closer relations with China and EU more important.
c.	Israel	Believes in adopting the 'Morocco approach\ towards Israel - encourage talks and the development of close contacts with Israel, but withholds official recognition till the resolution of the Palestine dispute.	Opposes recognition of Israel until resolution of Palestine issue
d.	The Muslim World	Supports bilateral relations on reciprocal basis. Supports strong relations with old allies, particularly the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey. Supports energy co-operation with Iran.	Supports strong and special ties with Muslim Countries; supports strengthening of OIC
e.	Kashmir Dispute	Encourages speedy resolution of the Kashmir Dispute and supports the GOP's four (04) step approach to dispute resolution. Also believes in awarding AJK and Northern Areas district Provincial status and due Constitutional recognition.	Supports right of self determination of Kashmiries as per the UN resolutions
8	National Defence	Supports reduction in defence spending to the maximum extent possible. Believes in reducing the armed forces' role in economy and privatisation of all military economic enterprises. Supports increased accountability of military in areas such as increased control for civilian defence ministers, publishing of military budget, debating military finances in Parliament and so forth. Support revamping of armed forces on modern lines, with more focus on technology, and less focus on manpower. Support creation of national fuel reserve of at least 100 days, in order to allow maximum strategic flexibility in times of conflict.	Believes in Strong national defence and increased spending to bolster defence.
9	Healthcare	Supports an effective and welfare-oriented public healthcare system	Supports revitalisation and betterment of the public healthcare system. Private healthcare facilities should be made more feasible for the common man.
10	Education
a.	Government Role	Believes in a strong role of Government in providing education. Increase in the annual budget allocation to be increased to 5% of the GDP.	Believes in high quality government educational setup with a role of private sector in it.
b.	Free Education	Believes in free and compulsory education upto secondary school level at a higher level supports quality educaiton with reasonable fees to all qualified candidates.	Considers free education idealistic. Supports reasonable charges.
c.	System of Education	Believes in a uniform system of education for all students up to 12^th grade; uniform curriculum	Has no objection to diversity in education system. People should have the right to choose the type of education they like.
d.	Faith-based education	Opposes faith-based public education. Considers religious education a private affair	Supports public faith-based education system
e.	Reproductive-Health education	Believes in introducing reproductive-health education as a subject from class 6 onwards	Supports optional reproductive-health education from secondary school.
11	Provincial Autonomy	Supports greater provincial autonomy	Supports provincial autonomy without harming the spirit of federalism.
12	System of Government	Supports Parliamentary Democracy	Supports Presidential Form of Government
13	Media Policy	Supports greater liberalisation of media in terms of freedom of speech and expression	Supports that media should be more mindful of the cultural sensitivities of the country. Supports that Ministry of Information continues.
14	Nuclear Policy	Believes in nuclear weapons as a deterrent. Control of strategic nuclear arsenal to lie with civilian government, not armed forces	Believes in nuclear weapons as a deterrent
15	Environment	Believes in adopting stringent international standards of environment protection	Believes that Pakistan should devise its own indigenous environmental protection standards.
16	Land Reforms	Reform Labour Laws to facilitate Kisans, tenants and farm workers.
17	Globalisation
a.	WTO	Considers WTO regime against the national interest and not people-friendly. Supports delayed application /adoption of WTO regime based on negotiations.	WTO has lead to an inevitable North and South split which needs to be lessened. Believes that Pakistan needs to strengthen its infrastructure in a manner to adopt WTO to the fullest. Believes that 'complex inter-dependency' has increased during that last decade and regionalism is on a rise and strengthened. Supports expeditious.

Youth Parliament of Pakistan 2008-09