PTI leader Asad Umar was the chief guest of the event. PHOTO: EXPRESS
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Asad Umar was the chief guest on the first day of the model parliament.
Following the pattern of the Parliament of Pakistan, the students were divided into six different groups, each representing a different political party. Each group comprised 20 students and represented the Jamaat-e-Islami, Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Pakistan Muslim League — Nawaz, Pakistan Peoples Party and PTI. Another 20 were part of the model parliament as ‘independent parliamentarians’.
Talking to The Express Tribune, electrical engineering student Osama Suleheen said the idea is to engage the youth of Pakistan in healthy democratic practices. “Through this initiative, the students can experience the federal legislative system of Pakistan that consists of the Senate — upper house — and the National Assembly — lower house.”
According to assistant professor engineer Dr Asim Imdad, Pakistan can only witness social and political change if its youth starts taking interest in the democratic system. “Be inspired in these two days,” he said addressing the students.
A video clip was played, showing the leaders who have ruled Pakistan in the past or are presently in the government. The video started with a speech by the Quaid-e-Azam. It further included speeches of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif, Imran Khan and Sirajul Haq.
President and founder of the model parliament Syed Mohammad Zaid said that the youth of the country should first learn about their own issues rather than discussing international ones. “It is time that our youth learns about their issues. Our house is on fire now,” he said, referring to the ignorance of the youth towards the issues of Pakistan.
The chief guest gave a lecture on the functioning of the National Assembly for the students. He explained how the agenda for the next day is received by the parliamentarians at night. “The proposed time for the assembly to meet is 10:30am, but usually parliamentarians enter the assembly building around 11am,” said Umar, unable to hide his frustration with the fact. He further added that even at 11am, the Assembly lacks its quorum to take up on serious matters. “The Assembly arranged a debate on the Yemen crisis where every fifth parliamentarian repeated the same things.”
According to Umar, Pakistan lacks serious legislation because the elected members spend less time in the Assembly. “MNAs are found eating snacks and enjoying tea in the assembly rooms,” he said, adding that the total working days of the Assembly are only 135 in a year.
Talking about the role of the Parliament in the democratic system, Umar said the role of an elected member is to legislate and debate on the issues that the people are facing. “Our service delivery institutions are not working,” he said. “The elected members have to fix the streetlights and transformers.”
He talked about the seating arrangement of the British Parliament in which their opposition and government sit facing each other. Criticising the random seating at our National Assembly, he said that ‘ministers can give a stupid reply to any question easily’.
The model parliament will end today (Sunday).
Published in The Express Tribune, April 26th, 2015.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ