Islamabad, September 01; PILDAT is holding a Consultative Session on the Orderly Revival of Students Unions in Pakistan on Thursday, September 04, 2008 at Hotel Best Western, Islamabad. This will be the first of the series of consultations PILDAT has planned to hold in various cities of Pakistan.

The issue of orderly revival of Students� Unions in Pakistan demands an informed and urgent debate. The question, always considered important vis-�-vis the development of leadership potential in the youth of Pakistan has come into a sharper focus once again since the policy announcement of Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani to lift the ban on Students� Unions as a part of his 100-days programme announced on the floor of the National Assembly on March 29, 2008.

To facilitate a structured consultation on the question, PILDAT has also issued a discussion paper on the orderly revival of Students Unions in Pakistan. The paper retraces the chronology of ban on Students� Unions in Pakistan while it addresses key questions that need to be addressed at this stage.

Committed to Youth�s democratic leadership development for a sustainable democracy in Pakistan, PILDAT has been focusing on the question for a long time. In July 2006, PILDAT published a background paper titled �YOUTH AND POLITICS IN PAKISTAN�, which was compiled to discuss participation by youth and their awareness about politics being an important component for successful democratic societies. In 2007, PILDAT launched the first-ever Youth Parliament Pakistan to provide a platform to a cross-section of the Youth of Pakistan so as to engage them in healthy discourse and expose them to the democratic process and practices.

The forthcoming PILDAT Series of Consultations, organised in collaboration with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), is a way to engage in an informed discourse with the key stakeholders - Students; Teachers; Parents; Administrators of Educational Institutions; Representatives of the Federal and Provincial Education Ministries and Departments; Politicians especially Parliamentarians and Representatives of Students Organisations - , and finalise a workable strategy and a future course of action on the orderly revival of the students� unions in Pakistan.

The discussion paper sets out a number of key questions for debate and consultations. PILDAT has also invited suggestions and ideas to update the list of questions that the consultations should address in order to reach a practical and workable solution.