NA to notify Young Parliamentarians Forum soon: Speaker

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser Thursday said the assembly will soon notify a Young Parliamentarians Forum and he would like to seek the support of PILDAT in facilitating the young MPs and the forum.

He said this at the PILDAT and UNDP Pakistan consultative dialogue between Pakistan’s youth representatives and parliamentarians/policy makers on Democratic and Peaceful Governance and Sustainable Development which brought together key political parties alongside youth representatives to address issues of youth’s concern, a press release said.

In his inaugural remarks, Asad Qaiser said he owes his political career to students’ politics and activism and he has been elected, first as MPA and Speaker in Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and now in the National Assembly of Pakistan, only through youth and student activism.

He advised young people never to under-estimate themselves adding that active young people will become MNAs, Speakers and Prime Ministers in the future.

Usman Dar, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Youth Affairs, highlighted that youth is a devolved subject after the 18th Amendment, youth remains an important agenda for the federal government.

The government is working on a Youth Framework to empower young people and the framework will be put in place in the coming few months.

The government is also launching a National Youth Development Index, an Economic Empowerment Programme to provide employment to 10 lakh young people across the country is also in the pipeline, he added.

PILDAT President Ahmed Bilal Mehboob said PILDAT and UNDP have joined hands to encourage youth engagement with political parties in the government and the opposition.