National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza on Thursday said that adoption of unanimous resolution on national security was a big achievement of the Parliament. While talking to US Ambassador Anne W Patterson who called on her in Parliament House, she said that newly-elected democratic parliament was vibrant as opposition parties were playing a constructive role on issues of national importance such as eradication of terrorism and extremism.
The Speaker apprised the US envoy that National Assembly's standing committees would be strengthened through capacity building of members to play their role more effectively in the parliamentary democracy. She said that she wanted live telecast of the proceedings of the House so that people could watch their representatives doing legislative work for their betterment.
The Speaker said that lot of improvement has been made in the working of Parliament to make it an effective body. She underlined the need for greater interaction between the parliamentarians of two countries for sharing experiences in legislation.
She appreciated the assistance of USAID in establishing Parliamentary Services Institute for capacity building of legislators and training of the staff working in the parliament. Anne W Patterson said that Pakistan is an important country and was playing a significant role in prosperity of the region.
She said that US wanted democracy in Pakistan to flourish and strengthen. She assured the Speaker of her all-out support in further enhancing the capacity of the legislators and their support staff. Later, talking to the Country Director Unifem, Alice Harding Shackelford, the Speaker said that there was dire need of gender mainstreaming and gender sensitisation for the protection of women rights.
She said that education was the core issue and wide spread education of women was a must for their empowerment and creation of political awareness. She said that she intends to constitute a caucus of women parliamentarians in the National Assembly and also a steering committee of women parliamentarians to oversee the issues confronting womenfolk.
Fehmida said that ultimate objective of this caucus was to empower women. Alice Harding Shackelford appreciated Fehmida's efforts toward formation of the caucus and added that it would play a major role in protection of rights and prevention of violence against women.
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