The participants of 34th Pakistan Navy Staff Course of Navy War College Lahore on Saturday called on Acting Speaker of National Assembly Sardar Mohammad Yaqub at Parliament House. Talking to the officers, speaker urged upon them to keep themselves updated with the changing global scenario in order to make the defence of Pakistan impregnable. He said that they should keep a close eye on future to prepare themselves for its requirements.
Briefing the participants on broad features of parliamentary democracy Yaqub said that prominent characteristics of the present parliament were; the representation of educated youth, the empowerment of women, special status given to religious minorities in the country and strengthening of local governments system.
Yaqub informed the participants about the performance of the 12th National Assembly and the steps being taken for empowerment of women. He said that there are 60 women representatives in the National Assembly, elected on the reserved seats for women.
The women have been given high ratio of representation in the Parliament due to which they were now in a better position to contribute for the development of society. Later, Additional Secretary (Legislation) briefed the participants of the Naval Staff course about the constitutional history of the parliament as well as the working and functions of the National Assembly. He informed them that National Assembly embodies the will of the people to be governed under a democratic multi-party federal parliamentary system.
The main functions of the National Assembly are to make laws in respect of the matters enumerated in the federal as well as the concurrent legislative list.
While briefing about the committee system of the National Assembly, he told them that Pakistan's committee system is one of the best systems in the world.
The committee system reviews the performance of each ministry and its attached departments to achieve the goals of good governance. The participants evinced keen interest in the briefing and asked various questions.
The commandant Navy War College thanked the Acting Speaker for giving them an opportunity to visit National Assembly and arranging a comprehensive briefing. Mementos were also exchanged on the occasion.