Understanding of civil society representatives on parliamentary business and legislative processes have been enhanced through a two-day orientation workshop which concluded Friday in Karachi.
Strengthening Democracy through Parliamentary Development (SDPD), a UNDP-funded project being implemented with the partnership of Senate of Pakistan, had organized the orientation workshop which was held with the purpose to enhance the knowledge and understanding of civil society on parliamentary functioning so as to enable it play an effective role in the legislative process through frequent engagement with the parliament.
A well known expert on the subject of parliamentary functioning and rules and procedures, Mohammad Ashraf Choudhry was the key resource person of the workshop. Choudhry had formerly served in the Senate of Pakistan as Joint Secretary, Legislation.
During his lecture, Choudhry spoke in detail about key subjects including legislative business, the question hour sessions, parliamentary resolutions in addition to explaining the procedures linked with parliamentary motions. The second and concluding day of the moot was mainly focused on legislative bills.
The resource person covered in detail the introduction of the legislative bills apart from explaining the procedures ranging from drafting, voting till their passage as full-fledged laws. For a clear understanding of the participants, the resource person also elaborated the methods of voting involved in legislation.
Moreover, special sessions to provide the participants with the opportunity to interact with the resource persons and fellow colleagues were one of the special features during both days of the two-days’ workshop.
In this connection, the civil society representatives not only asked important questions involving the parliamentary business for enhancing their knowledge, but they also comfortably expressed their opinions and observations on the gaps existing between the citizens and the parliament.
Furthermore, the participants noted that more opportunities for civil society to frequently interact with the parliament need to be created as it would help narrowing the existing gaps. Some of the key suggestions were found to be more noteworthy. One of the participants opined that the National Assembly and Senate need to establish their provincial offices so as to provide the citizens opportunity to easily give their suggestions through civil society organisations.
