ISLAMABAD – Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq has said that constitutional and parliamentary supremacy is key to lead country on the path of development and prosperity. He said that abridging the gap between Parliament and masses would render Parliament stronger and more effective.
He expressed these views while addressing the Orientation Programme of Interns serving in National Assembly Secretariat at Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Services (PIPS) Islamabad.
Emphasising the significance of proactive and effective Parliament, he deliberated upon initiatives undertaken during his previous tenure as Speaker National Assembly of Pakistan. He said that there was no strategy document of National Assembly and All Parties Committee was formulated to prepare a Strategic Plan. As a result, 1st Strategic Plan 2014-2018 for the sustained development and growth of the National Assembly was introduced. It was a holistic programme, which envisioned the development of technical skills like legislative drafting and creation of a well-resourced and efficient parliamentary services corps. He said that in order to ensure quality legislative process a Legislative Drafting Council was established to assists Private Members in drafting effective Bills on various subjects of socio-economic and political significance for the masses.
Further, the NA Speaker highlighted the contours of “Parliamentary Studies Programme” as a top 25 universities of Pakistan signed a declaration to commence parliamentary studies degrees and as of now 17 of them implemented the declaration by offering it. In addition, diplomas and short courses had also been introduced. He also said that in order to engage the educated youth of Pakistan, around 100 young fresh graduates had been recruited in the Parliament House through Young Parliamentary Associates programme to serve in different departments, providing the much-needed research services. For engaging youth in the parliamentary processes, an exclusive internship programme in collaboration with the Prime Minister’s Youth Training Scheme that was launched to provide an opportunity to young graduates to support the honourable members in pursuance of their parliamentary responsibilities. Further, Voluntary Internship programme was also launched on a rolling basis throughout the year and over 2000 interns were placed in the National Assembly from 2013 to 2018.
Ayaz Sadiq said that Parliament of Pakistan is the first-ever in the world to “Go Green” by shifting completely on solar energy. Pakistan’s Parliament was also the first in the country to have been issued a “Net-Metering” license by NEPRA. “E-Parliament” was also initiated which would ensure that the conventional file work would be replaced with the ideals of “Paperless Parliament”.
He said, “Building positive image of Pakistan is a collective responsibility and 88 Parliamentary Friendship Groups with sister parliaments were formulated around the world.”
