Youth parliamentarian nominated for global award

ISLAMABAD: Youth parliamentarian Waqas Nazar Tiwana has been nominated for the Global Young Leaders Award. Tiwana, who was ranked in the top 10 among 50 global people selected from 120 countries across the world, is slated to be the first Pakistani to have won such an honour.

The awards have been organised by Harvard Graduates International Presidential Scholars and will be handed out in Singapore by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Tiwana, who is the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defense in the Youth Parliament, expressed his concern over getting the award at the time when he had lost six of his fellow youth parliamentarians in the recent plane crash at Margalla Hills. “It is a great honour for me that I have been nominated for this award but it comes at a time when I have lost six of my members in the deadly plane crash. I dedicate this nomination to them,” he said.

The youth parliamentarian will also attend the opening ceremony of International Youth Olympics and meet the president of Singapore at ‘The Istana,’ which is the presidential palace. He will also be conferred upon the title of ‘Global Ambassador’ for his work with the youth parliament and other achievements.

Waqas Tiwana is a graduate of Kingston University London, where he was a scholarship holder and a representative of the student body. He now serves as their Scholar Ambassador for South Asia and Middle East.

Tiwana hails from Khushab district of Punjab, which he represents in the 48 member house of Youth Parliament of Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 7^th, 2010.