National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq has been unanimously elected as Asia’s representative to the 54-member Commonwealth’s Standing Committee.
Sadiq’s election was conducted at the 23rd Conference of the Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth Countries (CSPOC) in the Malaysian city of Kota Kinabalu, according to a statement issued on Friday.
Sadiq’s name was proposed by the Speaker of Majlis of the Maldives Abdulla Maseeh Mohamed and seconded by Karu Jayasuriya, the Speaker of Parliament of Sri Lanka.
With the motion carried unanimously, Sadiq will now serve the standing committee as its member for a two-year term till 2018.
Headed by Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbassi, a two-member parliamentary delegation from Pakistan participated in the three-day conference.
Abbassi successfully persuaded the participants to support Pakistan for the seat. He underscored the sacrifices rendered by the people of Pakistan for democracy, global peace and regional development, and stressed the member states to consider Pakistan’s nomination.
Abbassi also asked the forum to engage more effectively to promote the ideals of parliamentary democracy and good governance by bringing more transparency and creating linkages with the people.
He called upon the fellow speakers to take notice of the human rights violations in the Commonwealth by negating people’s right to choose their destiny, hence creating frustration that leads to violent behaviours.
CSPOC comprising the speakers of the Commonwealth countries is considered a prestigious parliamentary forum, which holds its meeting every two year to discuss the issues concerning the chair in the smooth functioning of the institution of Parliament.
