January 29, Islamabad: A consultation session
was organized by PILDAT for its annual Assessment of the Quality of Democracy
in Pakistan. Titled National Workshop on Assessment of the Quality of
Democracy in Pakistan, 2015, the forum was held to ascertain public
perceptions on the quality of democracy in the country.
Led by members of PILDAT’s Democracy Assessment
Group (DAG), the participants shared their views, and highlighted major developments
during 2015, related to various parameters used by PILDAT to assess the quality
of democracy. These include the role played by various institutions, such as
Parliament and Provincial Legislatures, the Media, the Civil Society, etc.,
in strengthening or stunting the quality of Pakistan’s democracy. Participants
also deliberated upon other factors such as Electoral Process and Management,
Rule of Law, and the State of Human Rights in Pakistan during 2015.
Members of PILDAT’s Democracy Assessment
Group who attended the Workshop include Mr. Iftikhar Ahmad,
Anchor, Dunya News; Dr. Huma Baqai, Associate Professor, Director
Public Affairs and Communications, Institute of Business Administration (IBA);
Justice (Retd.) Manzoor Gillani, Former Chief Justice, Azad
Jammu and Kashmir; Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Moinuddin Haider, Former
Governor Sindh; Mr. Javed Jabbar, Former Senator and Former
Federal Minister for Information and Media Development; Mr. Riaz Khokhar,
Former Foreign Secretary and Ambassador (Retd.) Ashraf Jehangir Qazi,
Former Director General, Institute of Strategic Studies.
The Workshop was attended by not only members
of the civil society, the media, the legal community and the academia, but also
by Members of the Parliament. This includes Mr. Mohammad Ziauddin,
Former Executive Editor, The Express Tribune; Hafiz Tahir Khalil,
Senior Journalist, Daily Jang; Mr. Mortaza Solangi,
Bureau Chief, Capital TV; Mr. Azaz Syed, Senior Correspondent,
Geo News; Mr. Iftikhar Ullah Babar, former Secretary, Pakistan
Senate; Dr. Niaz Murtaza, Political Analyst and Senior Fellow,
UC Berkley; Mr. Tasneem Noorani, Former Interior Secretary
and Chief Election Commissioner, PTI and Mr. Fida Muhammad,
Additional Secretary, Election Commission of Pakistan. The members of the Parliament
who attended the National Workshop included Senator Mian Muhammad Ateeq
Shaikh, MQM; Senator Farhat Ullah Babar, PPPP; Senator
Jahanzeb Jamaldini, BNP-M; Senator Sitara Ayaz, ANP;
Ms. Nafeesa Khattak, MNA, PTI and Mr. Bismillah Khan,
MNA, IND.
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