ISLAMABAD – The Speakers Conference on Friday expressed the commitment to uphold parliamentary supremacy, fundamental rights and strengthen democracy.
The two-day conference that concluded in Islamabad on Friday adopted a unanimous declaration, calling for constructive dialogue and mutual understanding as well as respect for the difference of opinion.
It emphasized that opposition should also have some say in the legislation. The speakers should ensure their issue-based intervention to resolve people’s problems.
The declaration urged the speakers to focus on the issues like the Climate Change and terrorism and play their due role in overcoming these challenges.
It was resolved that speakers will play a role of mediators or facilitators to bring harmony between the opposition and the treasury benches.
The conference suggested that there should be a charter of parliamentary ethics and decorum to run the House proceedings in a decent way.
It was decided that there should be uniform rules and procedures in all the assemblies of four provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir on the patterns of the Senate and the National Assembly.
The conference proposed to form an association of chief whips of political parties in the assemblies to formulize their role. An association of Public Accounts Committees was also proposed to make this forum more effective.
The declaration further stated that the issues of Kashmir and Palestine will be highlighted at the provincial legislatures like in the Senate and the National Assembly.
The Speaker Azad Kashmir Assembly invited to host the next Speakers Conference in Muzaffarabad.
Among others, Chairman Senate Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani, Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Speaker Punjab Assembly Malik Ahmed Khan, Speaker Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Babar Saleem Swati, Speaker Sindh Assembly Syed Owais Qadir Shah, Speaker Balochistan Assembly Abdul Khaliq Achakzai, Speaker Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly Nazir Ahmed, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar.
