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Youth Parliament Pakistan 2008-2009 concludes its Second Session
December 31, 2008 – January 04, 2009

Background of the Youth Parliament

Youth Parliament Pakistan (YPP) has been conceived and initiated by PILDAT (Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development And Transparency), a research and training institute focused on strengthening democracy and democratic institutions. The YPP functions like mock parliament of Pakistan providing its members (MYPs) a chance to undergo a parliamentary experience while also preparing the next generation for a career in parliamentary politics of the country. The Youth Parliament Pakistan, which has 60 members from all over the country aged between 18 and 29, is a platform for the young to face the pressure of adversarial politics and discuss issues of concern, work on analytical skills, refine their etiquette of articulation and thus undergo a process of political growth. PILDAT believes that such an exercise would provide the youth an opportunity of political evolution and will thus pave way for good governance.

The idea behind the Youth Parliament is to inculcate in youth the values and culture of democracy as central to effective governance in any society. The Youth Parliament has been designed to demonstrate to youth how Parliament is able to make legislation; to debate matters of national and international concern; to demand accountability from those in government; to change government without recourse to civil disorder; and to make and enforce their own rules of conduct, practice and behaviour. The Youth Parliament project is supported by the British High Commission while Geo Television is Media Partners with the YPP.

Establishment and facilitation of the Youth Parliament is part of PILDAT’s focus on Youth in the country and Youth’s awareness education and training in the norms of politics and democracy. The membership of Youth Parliament has been selected from across Pakistan through an intensive evaluation and interview process by an independent steering committee including MPs, former Speakers, representative of Ministry of Youth Affairs and PILDAT. The membership reflects number of seats according to regional proportion on population basis as is the practice in the National Assembly of Pakistan. No educational qualification criterion was set for seeking membership. Instead, the only requirement included the capacity to read, write and speak Urdu so as not to discriminate against a large population of youth of Pakistan on the basis of education and not to let the Youth Parliament become a forum for the elite.

Second Session

December 31, 2008 – January 04, 2009

This was the second of the five sessions scheduled for the term 2008-09 which began in September 2008. As planned, the house met in Islamabad on December 31, 2008 and held six plenary sittings spanned over five days ending on January 04, 2009. As per the decision taken by Business Advisory Committee in their last meeting, the parliament discussed: state of education; independence of judiciary and the state of economics in Pakistan. In addition to these, the recent Mumbai Bombings and the escalated Pakistan India conflict in which prospects of aggressive international diplomacy were discussed was also part of the agenda.

Mr. Wazir Ahmed Jogezai and Mr. Illahi Bukhsh Soomro presided the parliament over the five days while Dr. Donya Aziz, MNA and Engr. Khurram Dastgir Khan, MNA acted as party advisors to the Blue and the Green Party, respectively.

To discuss the State of Education in Pakistan, Prof. Laeeq Ahmed Khan appeared before the parliament as guest speaker. Prof. Laeeq gave an historical assessment of the state of education, its various policy facets, their evolution and transformation etc. Likewise, to get expert insight into the Independence of Judiciary in Pakistan, the YPP hosted Mr. Hamid Khan, Former President Supreme Court Bar Association, who delivered an extensive presentation and later answered questions posed by the MYPs. To discuss the State of Economy, Dr. Salman Shah graced the YPP as guest speaker by delivering a thorough analysis of the economy over the past decade identifying our assets, liabilities, mistakes and achievements. In this way he cut out the fog for the youth by explaining what went wrong in layman terms while also proposing a future plan of action based on his analysis.

In the visitors’ gallery sat Senator S.M. Zafar and Mr. Kabir Sabar; the two gentlemen are also part of the Independent Steering Committee on Youth Parliament Pakistan. Other notable visitors included Dr. Ashfraf Chaudhry, MP, New Zealand Parliament, who was visiting Pakistan on PILDAT invitation.

This term, the Prime Minister reshuffled his cabinet by adding two new ministers: Mr. Waqas Aslam Rana (YP38-PUNJAB19) as Minister for Finance, Planning Affairs and Economics and Ms. Hira Batool Rizvi, (YP15-NWFP03), as Minister for Cuture, Sports and Youth Affairs. The present cabinet thus holds: Mr. Samir Anwar Butt, (YP10-ICT01), Minister for Foreign Affairs & Defence; Mr. Yawar Hayat Shah (YP22-PUNJAB03), Minister for Information; Mr. Zameer Ahmed Malik (YP50-SINDH02), Minister for Education, Health & Environment; Mr. Muhammad Rafique Wassan, (YP59-SINDH11), Minister for Law, Parliamentary Affairs & Human Rights including the two new recruits. Leader of the Opposition, also, revised shadow ministers, replacing the former minister of Foreign Affairs and that of the Information ministry to Mr. Abdullah Khan Laghari (YP48-Punjab29) and Mr. Moin Akhtar (YP30-Punjab11), respectively.

In the miscellaneous business, Members of the Parliament drew the attention of the house to the assassination of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and urged the government to solve the mystery with the help of local investigative authorities and rely on local apparatus as much as possible. Other discussions ranged from the cancellation of Indian team’s visit to Pakistan to condemnation of Israeli airstrikes on GAZA strip, to an in depth analysis of Pakistan’s foreign policy with special emphasis on image building in the international community.

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