The Dutch political system, with its strong multi-party democracy, government support for political parties and cultural tolerance were of particular interest to a group of young activists from five Pakistani political parties.
These and other observations were made by a delegation of 13 political party activists who returned home after a ten-day study trip to The Netherlands. The visit was organised by the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), with the support of the Government of Netherlands through the Royal Netherlands Embassy Islamabad.
The study trip was designed to facilitate exchanges between Pakistani and Dutch political parties on party organisation, communications, election campaigns, membership recruitment, and fund-raising.
"Dutch multiparty democracy and the co-operation between parties were very inspiring because we have never seen that level of tolerance and co-operation among our own parties" said Mohsan Nawaz Ranjha of PML-N. He added that he will now try to promote the idea of working together on common goals among the parties in Pakistan.
"We learned from the Dutch parties new and practical ways to recruit and use new talent for the party, the importance of database management, and the policy role played by party think tanks to further their ideologies" said the PPP's Azma Bokhari, MPA from Lahore.
Samar Mahdi Naqvi of PML noted that the Dutch parties have huge resources from their own fund-raising activities and they receive a subsidy from the government. "This helps them be well managed and well equipped," he concluded and suggested that government subsidies for political parties in Pakistan would help the parties become better organised.
"We are inspired by the independent role of youth wings in the Dutch parties but it seems they still have to increase women's participation in their ranks," said Shagufta Malik of Awami National Party. She added that many things from Dutch parties, especially election campaign techniques like the merchandising of party products to raise campaign funds, could be adopted in Pakistan.
Liaqat Shahwani of the National Party in Balochistan was impressed that the Dutch people and their political parties have strong roots in their traditions and ideologies. "They value and respect their commitment to democracy both in society generally and within their own parties" he said.
NDI Country Director Sheila Fruman said it is obvious from their comments that these emerging leaders were inspired by the trip and came back with practical ideas to strengthen their own parties and a strong commitment to promoting a more tolerant political culture in Pakistan.
Study trip participants visited the offices of major Dutch political parties, the Dutch Parliament and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during their stay in The Hague and Amsterdam. The participating parties in The Netherlands included The Labour Party (PvdA), Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), Peoples Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD).
The party activists will now explore ways to incorporate their study trip experience into the action plans they are already implementing in their respective parties under NDI's current programmes with youth and women's wings in Pakistani political parties.
The delegates were chosen from the Pakistan Peoples Party, Pakistan Muslim League-N, Pakistan Muslim League, Awami National Party and National Party. A mix of 8 female and 5 male young leaders from all four provinces were selected by NDI in consultation with the central leadership of each party. NDI Programme Managers Emil Atanasovski and Niaz Ahmed accompanied the participants while the NDI office in Brussels co-ordinated the visit in The Netherlands.
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