Rs 3,000
As engines of developing policies and institutionalising decision-making, think tanks, or research institutes, attached to political parties are an essential requirement for parties that are serious in delivering good governance to the public. It is this firm belief which led to PILDAT requesting Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, a scholar and a thinker, notwithstanding his identity as a well-known politician, Secretary General of Pakistan Muslim League, and currently Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Defence, to pen down this Discussion paper proposing A Blue Print for Creating Think Tanks in Political Parties of Pakistan. Traversing Pakistan’s political history for policy decisions, which he sometimes refers to as ‘policy blunders’ or those that have had ‘disastrous repercussions’ for Pakistan, Senator Sayed builds the case in this paper on how institutionalized, well thought out decision-making, anchored in dedicated research and broad consultation, can help political parties, representing the interests of the people of Pakistan, serve Pakistan better. Looking at the emergence and existence of think tanks around the world, how these have helped countries’ decision making and how all established democracies promote centres of study and research in parties through state funding, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed argues that it is time that parties in Pakistan also focus their energies and resources on establishing dedicated think-tanks to support their work.
