Lahore, January 11-12, 2020
In keeping with its traditions of documenting proceedings of various activities and discussions, PILDAT is sharing a brief report of the 3 sessions organised and hosted at the 2020 edition of the Afkar-e-Taza ThinkFest in Lahore on January 11-12, 2020.
PILDAT partnered with the Information Technology University, Punjab to organise 3 sessions at the ThinkFest 2020. The Afkar-e-Taza ThinkFest started in 2016 with the ideal of bringing serious, academically and intellectually rigorous discussions into the public sphere in Pakistan. The festival aims to bring world leaders and intellectuals to Pakistan so that they can interact with locals, and that Pakistanis—most importantly, can listen, learn and interact with them. The ultimate purpose of the ThinkFest, which is reflected in its Urdu title, Afkar-e-Taza, meaning New Ideas, which is taken from Pakistan’s poet laureate Sir Muhammad Iqbal’s couplet, is to germinate such new and fresh ideas which would make Pakistan a truly democratic, progressive and forward-looking country.
The three sessions conceived, planned and hosted by PILDAT at the ThinkFest 2020 revolved around meaningful and candid discussions and deliberations on the state of Parliament, Local Government and Internal Democracy in Political Parties in Pakistan.
The first session, titled Another Local Government Law was held on January 11 where PILDAT President, Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, talked with Mr. Shahzad Arbab, Advisor to Prime Minister on Establishment, Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar, former Indian Union Minister Panchayat Raj, and Syed Mustafa Kamal, Chairman PS and former Mayor Karachi.
The second session, titled Parliament Today was also organised on January 11, 2020 and comprised Engr. Khurram Dastgir Khan, MNA and former Federal Minister, Mr. Javed Jabbar, former Senator and former Federal Minister and Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, President PILDAT.
The third panel discussion was held on January 12, 2020 on the subject of Internal Democracy in Political Parties of Pakistan, where Ms. Aasiya Riaz, PILDAT Joint Director, was in conversation with Mr. Farhatullah Babar, Secretary General PPPP and former Senator, Mr. Afrasiab Khattak, former Senator and office-bearer of the ANP and Mr. Hamid Khan, Senior Lawyer and former Senior Vice President PTI.
The respective sessions can be accessed on the following links.
