Members elect Committee Chairs at the Youth Parliament Pakistan session today

8th YPP Fourth Session - Day 2

September 22, Islamabad; Members of the fourth session of 8^th Youth Parliament Pakistan elected Youth Standing Committee Chairs in a morning session today.

The Youth Standing Committees have been tasked to develop a set of recommendations on issues pertaining to the current issues prevailing in Pakistan. The 8^th Batch has an enhanced role of the Youth Standing Committees focussed on review of critical policy. Members elected as Chairpersons by their Committee Members are as follows:

Mr. Iftikharullah Babar, Former Secretary Senate of Pakistan explained in detail about the working of the Parliament of Pakistan including the legislative business that is submitted during the proceedings of the Parliament. He also briefed the young Members about the terminologies used in the Parliament and Rules of Procedures practiced in the Parliament. The Module on How Parliament Works ended with an interactive question answer session posed by the Members to the Honourable Guest Speaker.

Why Reforms are necessary in the Electoral System of Pakistan was explained in detail by Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, President PILDAT while speaking on the Electoral Reforms Module. Welcoming the most recent Electoral Reforms such as the passing of the 22^nd Constitutional Amendment in which it has been added that the person appointed for the CEC cannot necessarily be from the judicial background, the amendment of eligibility criteria and age of the Election Commission Members and Chief Election Commissioner, introducing pilot projects of Electronic Voting Machines and Biometric Identification Mr. Mehboob said that there was an urgency to expeditiously wrap up the work of Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms and to introduce the Legislative agenda i.e. the laws be implemented soon after the Committee completes its work. He also said that the 2013 General Elections Inquiry Commission Report should be examined in depth to introduce safeguards and appropriate reforms. The flaws identified by the Election Tribunals Decisions should be addressed at the earliest.

In an evening session, Mr. Saleem Safi briefed the Members on National Security & Civil Military relations. He explained in detail about the unsteady relations between Civilian Governments and Military during the entire history of Pakistan. He ended his discussion with a healthy and interactive question answer session with the Members of the Youth Parliament.  

Mr. Khawaja M. Nadir (YP4-58-AJK01), Mr. Muhammad Usama (YP4-48-SINDH09) and Mr. Rafi Ullah (YP4-34-PUNJAB23) in a resolution presented in the House today proposed to expand the Women’s Protection Bill to the other provinces only after taking into account their local realities, in order to safeguard the rights of women and promote gender equality in Pakistan. The resolution was adopted unanimously. 

Young Members of the fourth session of 8^th Youth Parliament Pakistan will pay a visit to the Senate of Pakistan tomorrow.

The fourth session will span from September 21-25, 2016.

The 8^th Youth Parliament Pakistan is supported by the Danish International Development Agency, Government of Denmark as recognition of the importance of young people’s involvement in democracy and democratic practices.

For further information & details:

Website:   www.youthparliament.pk

Email:       info@youthparliament.pk

Twitter:    @YouthParlPak

Facebook: www.facebook.com/YouthParlPak

Cell #         0345-5448626

Landline:  051- 2810167-8