Futuristic, innovative parliaments a pre-requisite for progress: NA Speaker

Holding govt of the day accountable is the only guarantee against dictatorships.

ISLAMABAD     –     Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervez Ashraf has said that the ‘world is going through sweeping changes’. He said that the global upheaval caused by the Coronavirus Pandemic called for a new working and social environment while the catastrophes brought by the steep climate change also desired a new approach to human living. He also drew the attention of participants to the economic upheavals and the consequent social and political unrests. He expressed these views while addressing participants of the 26th Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of Commonwealth (CSPOC) on the topic ‘Role of Speaker and Presiding Officer in Leading Parliamentary Innovations’ in Canberra Australia, according to press release issued by National Assembly Secretariat. The speaker said that parliaments have to be innovative to invent new ways to resolve challenges faced by nations. He said that as representatives of the people, the onus of innovating new socio-cultural, socio-political and socio-economic order falls upon parliamentarians. The speaker said that “Democracy is ever evolving”. He also said the journey of humanity’s pursuit for a more just, equitable and inclusive society saw significant transition in the aftermath of the industrial revolution. He also said that meaningful participation of the common citizen in holding government of the day accountable is the only guarantee against dictatorships as well as the power capture by the populist, fascist and extremist movement. He also reminded that Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto termed space between people and its Parliament the ‘Democracy Deficit’, which must be addressed by Parliaments of World. He said an open, transparent, equitable and accessible Parliament is the only solution to bridge the divide among general public and the parliament.

The Speaker said that 1st 5-year National Assembly Strategic Plan (NASP) was introduced in 2008. This was reviewed and improved in light of our experiences in 2014 and the 3rd and present 5 year NASP was penned in 2019. Each has been backed by a definite Annual Work Plan and every Department of National Assembly is required to align its annual budgetary requirements to achieve the targets set in the Strategic Plan. The entire process is regularly monitored and evaluated through a specially created wing of Special Initiatives in the National Assembly, under which a Project Management Unit is entrusted to be the Secretariat of the NASP. The Speaker also said that In 2009,  the Women’s Parliamentary Caucus, which is an acrossthe-board alliance of all women parliamentarians. It has now become a global parliamentary brand, referred as a role-model by the 2010 Inter Parliamentary Union Report, CPA Publications and various UN Agencies. The  second step was the creation of a Special Parliamentary Task Force on Sustainable Development Goals in 2014 when Pakistan’s Parliament became first-ever parliament to shift its development agenda from MDGs to SDGs.