ISLAMABAD: Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq Tuesday affirmed that under the umbrella of Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) the member states must identify a path towards mutual progress and achieve peace, prosperity and development in the region.
Presiding an interactive session of APA here, he said that unfortunately the past two decades have seen an unprecedented bloodshed, political turmoil and the consequent denial of opportunities to our people in the Asian Continent.
He said Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan had paid the gruesome price of the global war on terror and that longest unsettled disputes of Palestine and Kashmir were yet unresolved.
He admitted that we were lagging behind in eradicating hunger, disease, illiteracy and gender-based deprivation from respective societies.
"This Assembly can be an ideal platform to create understanding. It can form Contact Groups, assigned with the task to mediate between states, bring them to the negotiating table and resolve differences" he added.
The Speaker urged that it was high time that this Assembly should propagate inter-faith harmony and help reform our respective societies to encourage dialogue and respect for each other.
He also acknowledged the role of women in our societies and added that we could not make progress without the active involvement and responsible role of women.
Asia has given the world its best women leaders, he said and added that it was about time we recognized their potential and involve them in policymaking and policy execution, he added.
The Speaker emphasized that climate change was yet another challenge which we must jointly address.
The frequent droughts and massive floods killed millions of people as well as destroyed numbers of towns and cities.
He said the Assembly must form a panel of experts to propose workable plans of disaster mitigation and effective management of water resources.
Speakers, Deputy Speakers, Vice Presidents, Presiding Officers, Parliamentarians of APA countries and the Chairman of the Organizing Committee 6th APA Senator Mushahid Hussain were also present on the occasion.
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