Dialogue between Pakistani and US parliamentarians on Role and Working of Parliamentary Committees in conducting accountability of Executive on February 24, 2012: The Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services and the US House Democracy Partnership (HDP) jointly held an absorbing dialogue on effective role of parliamentarians in oversight and public accounts as well as constituent relations and outreach between parliamentarians of Pakistan and a delegation of US Congress led by founding Chairman of US House Democracy Partnership, Congressman Mr David Drier. Mr Khan Ahmad Goraya, Executive Director, welcomed the visiting delegation of US Congressmen and staffers as well as Pakistani parliamentarians at PIPS and elaborated the achievements of PIPS in a short span of time and objectives of the dialogue. Senator Jehangir Badr, also expressed his gratitude to US delegation for their arrival in the country. Senator Jehangir Badar expressed the hope that parliamentarians provide a natural and most effective diplomatic and peace-building forum, which needs to be trusted and utilized befittingly with regard to promoting ties between US and Pakistan in the future.
The PIPS and HDP dialogue comprised of two sessions for parliamentarians and a session for functionaries of Senate, National Assembly and PIPS professional staff on role of professional staff at the Parliament. The US delegation, included fiveCongressmen Mr David Drier, Mr James Moran, Mr Joe Wilson, Mr Adrian Smith and Mr Kenny Merchant who interacted with twenty two Pakistani parliamentarians led by Senator Jehangir Badar, including Senator Saeeda Iqbal, Senator Tariq Azeem, Senator Waqar A Khan, Senator Haji Adeel, Senator Seemi Siddiqui, Senator Sughra Imam, Senator Islamuddin Sheikh and Senator Abbas Khan Afridi inaddition to 13 Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) including MNA Ms Yasmeen Rehman, MNA Ms Fauzai Wahab, MNA Ms Kashmala Tariq, MNA Ms Farzana Raja, MNA Ms Pulwasha Khan, MNA Ms Asiya Nasir, MNA Mr Noor Alam Khan, MNA Mr Nadeem Afzal Gondal, MNA Mr Moazam Ali Khan Jatoi, MNA Mr Naseer Bhutta, MNA Ms Tahira Aurangzeb, MNA Ms Fouzia Ejaz Khan and MNA Mian Abdus Sattar. The two sides candidly exchanged views regarding the fluid Pakistan-US relations in the wake of uncalled for developments such as the November 2011 Salala incident. Therefore, both sides felt the need for greater and more frank discussions on similar lines, which they hope would be catered for by PIPS as it starts its full-fledged functions in the new campus.
The second session saw an interactive interaction between professional staffers of five US and around 23 senior Pakistani officials of the legislation, committees and research wings of Senate and the National Assembly as well as the research and human resource wings of the Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services. The two sides shared their experiences while the US delegation led by Brad Smith and John Lis reflected some best practices of a professional parliamentary staffer with their Pakistani counter-parts. In the end, the US Congressmen and Pakistani parliamentarians thanked the HDP and PIPS for such active parliamentary exchange.