Youth Parliament of Pakistan 2009-10

	Third Session Summary
		Third Session of the Youth Parliament Pakistan concluded at Islamabad March 31 to April 04, 2010
	The Third Session of Youth Parliament Pakistan which started from March 31, 2010 was concluded on April 04, 2010. The Session that continued for 5 days discussed issues including The Water Crisis and Inflation, Poverty and Unemployment, including key issues like Rental Power Plants, the shortcomings in the education system and environmental and medical hazards in the country. The Guest Speakers for the session were Mr. Shams-ul-Mulk former Chairman WAPDA and Mr. Ashfaque Hasan Khan former Special Secretary Finance while Engr. Khurram Dastgir Khan MNA, advised the Green Party at the Party Meeting. The Sittings of Youth Parliament Pakistan 2009-2010 The third batch of Youth Parliament Pakistan held five sittings during the Third Session First Sitting: Wednesday, March 31, 2010 The Session began with a calling attention notice by Ms. Zile Huma (YP13-PUNJAB13) on the unfortunate incident of violence in twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad on the issue of increased transport fares. The house strongly condemned this incident and use of force by both sides and pointed out the weaknesses of administration which implemented the rules and regulations. Mr. Hammal Muneer Jan (YP03-BALOCHISTAN02) gave suggestions and pointed out problems regarding transportation between twin cities. He also pointed out increase in the fares and suggested that government should take steps and give subsidy in rents. Syed Manzoor Shah (YP04-BALOCHISTAN03) moved a resolution on Rental Power Plants and said that these were started in 2001 in the dictatorship era. Government of Pakistan invested billions of dollars for fulfilling the need of electricity but no outcome has been achieved as yet. There are two power plants working in Lahore with the collaboration of Japan and each one is producing 125 Megawatt (MW) of electricity, yet the electricity bills are increasing throughout which shows failure of policies on the part of the present day Government. Mr. Imtiaz Ali Khuhro (YP46-SINDH09) said that the Government of Pakistan did not make use of the natural resources for the production of electricity. Khanpur and Hyderabad have higher amounts of sunshine throughout the year and solar energy projects should be implemented to produce electricity. Syeda Rabab Zahra Naqvi (YP41-SINDH04) was of the view that the unit prices are increasing due to global oil prices. It is not possible to cut off all agreements with rental powers because we have no feasible alternative at the time. Ms. Asbah Rehman (YP30-PUNJAB12) said that there are 14 rental powers plants working in the country because government has no other alternative to it. Mr. Ehsan Naveed Irfan (YP13-KP02) argued that the power shortage is not a problem of only Pakistan but also of Bangladesh and India and several research projects have been started in Pakistan and abroad to solve such a situation. Mr. Zahoor ud din (YP06-FATA02) suggested taking a step forward for accountability of ex- government who did not make right decisions. The resolution was put to vote in the house and was rejected with heavy majority. Second Sitting: Thursday April, 01, 2010 On the Second Day of the Session, Mr. Shams ul Mulk, Former Chairman WAPDA and Former Caretaker Chief Minister NWFP, addressed the Youth Parliament on The Water Crisis. He said that only water conservation and good governance are remedies for the Water Crisis in Pakistan and the Construction of Kalabagh and other dams is the need of the hour. If delayed, this could be very dangerous for the future of the country. He said that the surcharge of hydel power should not reflect in the electricity bills. ‘Pakistan even today has the capacity, more than most other countries, to generate electricity but right decisions at the right time have been and continue to be lacking to utilize these capacities’, he said. Talking about rental power plants (rpps), Mr. Shams ul Mulk said that electricity generation by hydel resources is possible at the rate of 49 paisa per unit but instead electricity generation through the rpps starting from Rs. 14 per unit is being promoted. This is due to the narrow vision of the leaders and their lack of planning, over the years, he said. He believed that through the Indus Water Treaty, Pakistan has been denied water of 3 of its rivers. Experts of the time thought that Tarbela and Mangla dams could not be constructed, but we as a nation worked hard and proved them wrong. Answering a question, Mr. Shams ul Mulk said that the World Bank persuaded Pakistan to accept two reservoirs instead of 3 rivers. He said that he has been of the view that if Kalabagh dam is not constructed before the turn of the century, then every province would blame the other over water which does not exist in system, and sadly that is witnessed today in Pakistan. Earlier in the day, some Calling Attention Notices by members of the Youth Parliament on current issues were presented in the House. Mr. Hammal Muneer Jan (YP03-BALOCHISTAN02) brought the attention of the house to the degradation of Indus Delta and loss of fertile land and mangroves due to water shortage and sea erosion. Ms. Asbah Rehman (YP30-PUNJAB12) condemned the unfortunate incident at Jinnah Hospital Lahore that resulted in clash between the hospital administration, journalists and relatives of a patient who allegedly died because of the administration of a wrong injection. Ms. Anam Javed Cheema (YP29-PUNJAB11) brought the attention of the House to the need for buying electricity from Iran on priority basis, as an MOU between the two countries has already been signed. She, along with Mr. Hassan Javed Khan (YP39-SINDH02) also lauded the bold steps taken by the judiciary against one of the beneficiaries of the NRO, which resulted in the arrest of the Additional Director General FIA. The first resolution of the day was moved by Ms. Maria Fayyaz (YP32-PUNJAB14) and Mr. Hassan Javed Khan (YP39-SINDH02) pointing to water dispute amongst provinces which should be resolved immediately by dealing with it as a national priority and crisis. Mr. Prem Chand (YP38-SINDH01), Hassan Tasneem Ahmed (YP26-PUNJAB08) and Hanan Ali Abbasi (YP15-NWFP04) moved a resolution in the House that the Government should take steps to promote the drip and sprinkle irrigation systems for conserving water. Mr. Hanan Ali Abbasi (YP15.NWFP04) also brought the attention about NOC issued by Government about imposition of Pashto Language as compulsory subject from nursery to intermediate classes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He was of the view that this preference is against first choice of more then one crore Nan-Pashto speakers of province. Third Sitting: Friday, April 02, 2010 Dr. Ashfaque H. Khan, Dean NUST Business School and Former Special Secretary Finance addressed the Youth Parliament Third Session on the issue of Inflation, Poverty and unemployment. Dr. Khan lauded the Benazir Income Support Programme as a targeted subsidy for the poor, but said that this was only a temporary solution to eliminate poverty. If we were to rely too much on this in the future, then this would be catastrophic for the economy of the country. He specifically criticized the Sasti Roti project of Punjab saying that it was a political slogan. Punjab lost millions of rupees and no substantial help was given to the poor as this was an untargeted subsidy. Dr. Khan was of the view that in Pakistan, politicians, businessmen lawyers, doctors and civil servants do not pay their taxes and to date, there has been no clear reason or justification given for this. The budget for education and health, even if doubled today, could not be used positively since the administration and people on top lack governance skills, he said Responding to a question, Dr. Ashfaque said that this government did not have ministers in place for key ministries like finance, petroleum and health at a time of a global economic crisis which did not help Pakistan. Earlier in the day, the members of the Youth Parliament Pakistan visited the National Assembly of Pakistan to witness the historical session of the National Assembly of Pakistan in which Senator Raza Rabbani, Chairman Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms tabled the 18^th Constitutional Amendment Bill. Fourth Sitting: Thursday, April 03, 2010 On the fourth day of the Third Session of the Youth Parliament Pakistan, the members discussed ways and means to eliminate poverty, create more jobs and help strengthen the economy of the country. The Youth Parliament appreciated the Foreign Office and the Government of Pakistan for achieving the abolition of the screening condition for Pakistanis at US airports. The members lauded the success of the strategic dialogue between the two countries. The day started with a Calling Attention Notice by Ms. Mahrukh Ayesha Ali (YP28-KP07) on the unfortunate death of a student of University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Peshawar leading to riots and closing of the institution for five weeks. The House called for the perpetrators to be punished and called for regulated student union activities in campuses. The other calling attention notices for the day included the menace of acid attack violence in Pakistan. The corruption of Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Karachi was brought to the notice of the Education Minister and it was demanded that the students should not be exploited by the poor policies of the Government. The first resolution of the House was presented by Ms. Zile Huma (YP30-PUNJAB12) regarding the water issues of the country. The House was of the view that Indian motives of constructing 62 dams on rivers allocated to Pakistan should be condemned on all international forums. The resolution was adopted unanimously by the House and members gave their suggestions on initiating a dialogue with India over the issue of water. Syeda Rabab Zehra Naqvi (YP41-SINDH04) moved a resolution stating that the government should encourage Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country to generate employment as these are a major source of economic growth, especially in a developing country like Pakistan. Mr. Prem Chand (YPYP38-SINDH01) stressed on the need to take effective measures for social welfare security, through a resolution. The members debated and thought that there should be revision in the existing setup to further the cause of poverty alleviation. Fifth Sitting: Sunday, April 04, 2010 The last day of the Youth Parliament started with a Calling Attention Notice regarding the missing persons issue, emphasizing on the case of Dr. Afia Siddiqi. The House condemned the dictatorial injustices committed through arbitrary detentions and extra judicial kidnappings under the guise of the war on terrorism and its continuation under the democratic regime by refusing access to justice to the families. The other Calling Attention Notice was regarding the need for referendum on renaming of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) by Mr. Hanan Ali Abbasi (YP15-KP04) and Mr.Ehsan Naveed Irfan (YP13-KP02). The movers of the notice thought that the new name is controversial and has raised serious grievances amongst over ten million people of the area, specially the people of hazara as witnessed during their protests. The Legislative Business of the day included a report by a sub committee of Environment, Sports and Youth Affairs Committee on Drip Irrigation System presented jointly by Mr. Prem Chand (YP38-SINDH01) and Ms. Asbah Rehman (YP30-PUNJAB12). A number of bills were presented in the house which included Medical Negligence Bill, a National Empowerment Youth Commission Bill and a Clean Drinking water Bill. The bills were referred to the next session for discussion in the House. The only resolution discussed was on the exchange of skilled and un-skilled personnel. The house believed that it should be increased with allies of Pakistan with particular emphasis on the Gulf States and also that a National Outreach Programme be initiated that would provide graduates with internships in their own constituencies.


	Mr. Shams-Ul-Mulk former Chairman WAPDA alongwith Mr. Wazir Ahmed Jogezai former Deputy Speaker National Assembly of Pakistan at the Third Session of Youth Parliament Pakistan


	Dr. Ashfaque Hassan Khan, former Special Secretary Finance is being presented a souvenir by the Leadership of Youth Parliament Pakistan


	Engr. Khurram Dastgir Khan, MNA, PML(N), advising Green Party members at the start of the Third Session


	Mr. Bilal Jamaee (YP44-Sindh07) making his point


	Mr. Rana Amaar Faaruq (YP08-ICT01) addressing his party at the Party Meeting

Youth Parliament of Pakistan 2008-09