Beyond borders: Regional parliamentary conference starts today

KARACHI:

The fourth Commonwealth Parliament Association’s Asia Regional Conference kicks off in Karachi today with a delegation from Sri Lanka as well as speakers, secretaries and members of Pakistan’s provincial and legislative assemblies in attendance.

The event, being held at the Sheraton Hotel, will be opened by National Assembly Speaker Fehmida Mirza on Tuesday. Sindh Assembly Speaker Nisar Khuhro will deliver the welcome address.

Sindh Assembly Deputy Speaker Shehla Raza told reporters on Monday that members of the National Assembly and Senate will also attend the event while MNA Nafisa Shah will be the conducting officer. The Asia branch of the Commonwealth Parliament Association comprises Pakistan, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. However, Maldives has declined to send a delegation given the political crisis in the country, while Raza could not confirm Bangladesh’s attendance on Monday afternoon. However, the Sri Lankan delegation will be at the event and a representative was at the Sindh Assembly session on Monday. According to Raza, there are three main themes for the event – trade barriers, harassment of women and terrorism. The conference will run till March 16.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2012.