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First Session of first-ever Youth
Parliament Pakistan
January 24 - 28, 2007, Islamabad
The First Session
The First-ever Youth Parliament of Pakistan held its first
session at Islamabad from January 24 to January 28, 2007.
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 Youth Parliament Pakistan
provided “Youth MPs or MYPs” a chance to experience life in
the parliamentary spotlight and at the same time show how the
next generation would approach parliamentary politics in
Pakistan. The Youth Parliament, which has 60 members from all
over the country aged between 18 and 29, provided a platform
for the young to face the pressure of adversarial politics and
discuss issues of concern to young people in Pakistan.
Background of the Youth Parliament
The idea behind 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 received
cooperation of the Ministry of Youth Affairs, Pakistan while
the project is supported by the Global Opportunities Fund of
the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Friedrich Ebert
Stiftung, Germany
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.
The Orientation Session
On the first day of the session on January 24, 2007, the youth
MPs were given detailed briefing on their roles and
responsibilities as members in the light of Rules of Procedure
and Conduct of Business of Youth Parliament Pakistan. Mr.
Wazir Ahmed Jogezai, Former Deputy Speaker, National Assembly
of Pakistan, who served as the Speaker first session of the
Youth Parliament, also guided members on various procedures of
Youth Parliament.
Following parliamentary practices, two
mock parties have been created: the Green Party (the
Traditionalists) and the Blue Party (the Liberals) and “MYPs”
were asked to join one of the two parties prior to the first
session. Two party advisers each were selected from the Youth
Parliament Steering Committee to advise each party on its
functions as a parliamentary party and to elect its leaders.
Dr. Donya Aziz, MNA and Mr. Abdul Qadir, FES, served as
advisers to the Blue Party while Rai Azizullah, MNA and Mr.
Talib Hussain Sial, Ministry of Youth Affairs were advisers to
the Green Party. Incidentally, the Blue Party got majority in
the Youth Parliament. The orientation session included
separate party caucusing in which both parties elected their
leaders and office bearers.
The Inaugural Session
Senator Mohammedmian Soomro, Chairman Senate, as the patron of
the Youth Parliament, inaugurated the Youth Parliament on
January 25, 2007. Senator. S. M. Zafar, Chairman Youth
Parliament Steering Committee, Mr. Wazir Ahmed Jogezai as
Speaker, 1st Session of Youth Parliament and Mr. Ahmed Bilal
Mehboob also spoke on the occasion.
The Sittings of First Session of Youth
Parliament
The first ever Youth Parliament Pakistan held four sittings
during the first session along with the orientation and
inaugural sessions.
The First Sitting
Following the inaugural session, the first formal sitting of
Youth Parliament was held on January 25, 2007 in which Members
of Youth Parliament were administered oath by the Speaker. The
Youth Parliament also elected its Prime Minister and Mr. Basil
Nabi Malik, (Constituency Number YP-50-SINDH03), belonging to
the Blue Party, commanded the confidence of the House as the
Youth Prime Minister. Ms. Mariam Raza Zaidi was elected as the
Leader of the Opposition Youth Parliament while Ms. Mehvish
Muneera Ismail has been elected as the Deputy Speaker of Youth
Parliament.
The Second Sitting
The second sitting was held on January 26, 2007. Following the
news of the terrorist incident in Islamabad, the Youth
Parliament unanimously passed a resolution condemning the
incident and called for meaningful investigation of the
incident. On a resolution moved by Ajmal Shah Din
(YP20-Punjab02) the Youth Parliament stressed that the
Government of Pakistan should take immediate steps to control
the deteriorating law and order situation in the country. On
a calling attention notice, Mr. Kamran Khan Kakar
(YP02-Balochistan01) invited the attention of the Honourable
Youth Prime Minister to a matter of urgent public importance
regarding the state of poverty and unemployment in the Youth
of Balochistan due to which the Youth is falling prey to
various ills. Speaking on the occasion, the Youth Prime
Minister Basil Nabi Malik (YP50-SINDH03) said that it was
indeed an issue of concern and the youth government will bring
correct statistics to the house to raise this issue with the
Government of Pakistan.
Qurat-ul-Ain Marri (YP56-Sindh09)
moved a resolution that the Government of Pakistan should take
effective and necessary steps to ensure that all buildings in
Pakistan are made accessible to physically-challenged special
persons by making the construction of ramps and, where
applicable, the installation of elevators and escalators a
legal requirement. After a debate on both aisles of the House,
the Youth Parliament passed the resolution with a voice vote.
The House began discussion on the
state of Youth in Pakistan and the role which the Youth
Parliament should play. Liaqat Ali Shahwani
(YP03-Balochistan02) said that the most crucial issues faced
by the youth of Pakistan were unemployment and extremism. This
makes youth into a “ticking time bomb” for Pakistan which can
erupt any time into very undesirable situation for the country
and its future. Akhtar Mohammad Shah (YP49-Sindh02) opined
that the government should effectively use the strategies of
micro-finance and small and medium enterprise development to
address this issue.
The Third Sitting
The third sitting was held on January 27, 2007 in which the
Youth Parliament demanded of the Government of Pakistan to
seek Youth Parliament’s debate and input on the draft Youth
Policy lying with the federal cabinet for its approval. The
Youth Parliament welcomed the offer by the Federal Minister
for Youth Affairs Ms. Sumaira Malik that the Ministry would
seek Youth’s Parliament’s debate and input on the draft Youth
Policy before it is approved. Ms. Malik made the offer on
Friday while addressing the delegation of Youth Parliament.
On a Calling Attention Notice, the
nominee of the Leader of the Opposition said that the Youth
Policy lying pending with the cabinet of the Government of
Pakistan for the last many years is causing grave concern
amongst the Youth of Pakistan and the Youth Parliament should
address the draft Youth Policy in detail and give its
recommendations to the Ministry of Youth Affairs, Pakistan.
The Youth Parliament unanimously demanded of the Government of
Pakistan to seek the input of Youth Parliament as a
representative institution of the youth of the country.
Moving a resolution in the house, Mr.
Hammad Khan Marri (YP53-Sindh06) said demanded that the
Government of Pakistan should take effective and necessary
steps to abolish the current Zakat system of Pakistan and
should instead invest this money in the District, Tehsil and
Union Council levels to develop the small industries that can
be used to create jobs for the youth of Pakistan. The
Opposition benches erupted on the issue taking the proposed
resolution as insensitive to religious sentiments. After
considerable discussion on the issue, the Deputy Speaker
Mehvish Muneera Ismail (YP54-Sindh07) ruled that the
resolution should be amended before it is presented before the
house for approval.
Mr. Jawaad Ali Latif (YP27-Punjab09)
moved the resolution that the Government of Pakistan should
ban vulgarity and obscenity in the media; minimise the
availability and use of such media and put a ban on all
internet cafes offering internet access in private cabins as
they are unregulated and unchecked and young individuals are
using them for unethical and obscene purposes. Once again, a
lively debate ensued on the issue from both sides of the
aisle. The debate on the issue was to continue for the next
day when the House was adjourned for the sitting on January 28
at 10:00 am.
The Fourth Sitting
Held on January 28, 2007, the sitting witnessed Youth
Parliament Pakistan strongly condemning the terrorist incident
in Peshawar and demanding of the Government of Pakistan to
take immediate steps to contain the worsening law and order
situation in the country. On a resolution moved by the Youth
Prime Minister Basil Nabi Malik (YP50-SINDH03), the Youth
Parliament stressed that security arrangement in the country
needed to be made effective for the citizens of Pakistan.
The Youth Prime Minister also
announced his cabinet which was administered oath by the
Speaker Youth Parliament. The Youth Cabinet includes Mr. Arif
Mahmood Chaudhary (YP21-Punjab03), Minister for Finance,
Planning Affairs and Economics; Mr. Liaqat Ali Shahwani
(YP03-Balochistan02), Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence;
Mr. Mustafa Hyder Sayed (YP08-ICT03) Minister for Culture,
Sports and Youth Affairs; Mr. Osama Azeem Chaudhary
(YP09-ICT04) Minister for Information Mr. Qasim Khan Badini
(YP04-Balochistan03), Minister for Education, Health and
Environment and Syed Ali Raza (YP44-Punjab26), Minister for
Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights.
The Opposition youth party also
announced its shadow cabinet including Mr. Ajmal Shah Din
(YP20-Punjab02) Shadow Minister for Information; Mr. Jawdat
Bilal (YP29-Punjab11), Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs &
Defence; Mr. Rafi Ullah Khan (YP16-NWFP05) Shadow Minister for
Education, Health and Environment; Mr. Saif Ullah
Khan(YP42-Punjab24), Shadow Minister for Finance, Planning
Affairs and Economics, Ms. Saira Soomro (YP58-Sindh11) Shadow
Minister for Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights and
Ms. Sidra Tariq (YP17-NWFP06) as Shadow Minister for Culture,
Sports and Youth Affairs.
The house debated two resolutions
relating to the disbursement system of zakat in the country
and the government’s responsibility towards stopping the
spread of obscenity and vulgarity spread by the internet and
the media. After considerable debate on both, amended versions
of these resolutions were passed. The resolution on reforming
the zakat system demanded of government to direct zakat money
to the district, tehsil and union council levels so that free
schools and hospitals could be established in these areas for
the poor. The other resolution demanded of the Government of
Pakistan to improve the current system regulating the
availability of sexual and violent content in the media and
internet to underage youth in Pakistan.
Earlier in the day, the Youth Prime
Minister Basil Nabi Malik also received a vote of confidence
from the House.
The Youth Minister for Law,
Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights moved the motion to
elect Parliamentary committees. Members for 7 committees
including Committees on Foreign Affairs & Defence, Law and
Human Rights & Parliamentary Affairs, Culture, Sports and
Youth Affairs, Education, Health and Environment, Finance,
Planning Affairs, Economics, Information and Ethics were
elected.
The session was prorogued till the
next session expected to take place in the first week of March
2007.
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