'Speakers won't participate in any unconstitutional act'

Speakers of national and provincial assemblies will not become part of any unconstitutional act and continue to work for promotion of democracy and rule of law. Speaker National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq said this on Tuesday while addressing a news conference after conclusion of the 17th Conference of the Speakers.
"Ruling of the speaker cannot be challenged in any court of law and also the speakers would not participate in any unconstitutional work," he said, adding that each institution of the state should work under the law and constitution. The speaker said that persistence of the democracy would help improve governance and performance of the assemblies. "We are promoting the culture of mutual respect and tolerance for promotion of the democracy," he said, adding that the conference was also aimed at promoting harmony and friendship among the provinces.
Talking about expenditure of the National Assembly Secretariat, he said that expenditures of the secretariat have been lessened up to a significant extent. "The process of narrowing down the expenditure has started from speaker's chamber and pre audit will also be started soon," he said.
The speaker said that Pakistan is faced with the menace of terrorism, extremism and sectarianism and it is hampering the dream of making the country peaceful and prosperous. "We pay tribute to civil and military martyrs, public and their elected representatives who gave their lives for making country safe in the battle against terror," the speaker said.
He said, after the 18th constitutional amendment provincial assemblies have the right to legislate and this responsibility has been fixed on them for bringing betterment in the departments of health, education, social services and public interest. The speaker said legislation process will be made more effective to protect rights of women, children and minorities. We promise that we will continue the process of legislation with the mutual understanding of Parliament and provincial assemblies for a better outcome and this will also help us get benefit from the experience of each other, he said.
Sadiq said that it is imperative to continue such efforts for the progress and stability of the country, political parties and civilians have sacrificed a lot for democratic traditions, stability of organisations and civil liberty. "If we will respect the mandate of each other it will build the confidence of the public and a gesture of independent and democratic state of our country will come to fore in the international community," he said.
He said the conference also reviewed the idea of establishing a separate TV channel of the parliament for coverage of the proceedings. The speaker said for the promotion of democracy and independence of media in Pakistan, protection of journalists must be ensured and responsible journalism must be promoted. Referring to the Kashmir dispute with India, the speaker said the international community should play its role in providing the Kashmiris their right to self determination as per resolutions of the United Nations.