Islamabad, July 03, 2024, Wednesday: Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services (PIPS) organized a Youth Outreach Seminar on Constitution and Parliamentary Processes. The seminar was attended by around 60 participants, including faculty and students from Muslim Youth University as well as internees from GCU Faisalabad and Kinnaird College Lahore. The main speakers in the event were Mr. Muhammad Rashid Mafzool Zaka (ED PIPS), Hon. MNA Ms. Nafeesa Shah, Mr. Hanif Khan Nasar (DD, R) and Mr. Rizwan Manzoor (AD, R). Ms. Ayesha Tariq Khan (AD, R) took the minutes of the seminar.

Mr. Hanif Khan Nasar moderated the event. The event started with the National anthem followed by the recitation of the Holy Quran. Mr. Muhammad Rashid Mafzool Zaka, Executive Director PIPS, welcomed the participants of the event. He explained the Constitution, Parliament and Working of Committees. He also discussed the idea of democracy by exemplifying Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah as the speaker of National Assembly in 1947. He told the participants the democracy simply means that we agree to disagree and if the conflict of interest arises, then take two steps back and become neutral. He explained the constitution in detail, and with context of Pakistan Constitution, he asked the participants to read the Preamble of the constitution of Pakistan as it has the essence of whole constitution i.e. Welfare State, Federal State, Independence of Judiciary, Democracy and Islamic State. He explained the role of Senate as it is based on equality from all the provinces of Pakistan. He then brifly explained the Law making process, question hour, calling attention notice, standing committee, zero hour and adjournment motion to the participants. He ended his presentation with a quote of Quaid-i-Azam.

Hon. MNA Nafeesa Shah joined the event virtually. She explained Law Making and Oversight by the Parliament. She briefly explained the role of parliament which is representation, oversight, budget making, and legislation. She then explained the processes of these roles of parliament. Then there was a short Question and Answer session.

Mr. Hanif Khan Nasar gave a presentation of Legislation Process of the Parliament of Pakistan. He explained the types of bills, and then further classification of bills. Then he explained the legislative process from bill to an act step by step.

Mr. Rizwan Manzoor gave a presentation of Budget making process in the Parliament of Pakistan. His presentation was brief yet very informative. He briefly discussed the budget, government budget, major government revenues, major government expenditures, types of expenditures and charged expenditures. He explained the budget cycle which goes from policy setting, budget preparation, authorization, execution, reporting and monitoring and periodical review.

There was a quick question and answer session at the end. The head of the delegation thanked PIPS team and appreciated the efforts of the PIPS. The event ended with a group photo.