Malik Waqar
Participants of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) South-East Asia Regions Joint Conference have urged the need to take collective measures for maintaining peace in the region, dealing with terrorism with an iron hand, fighting against poor economic conditions and devising comprehensive climate change policies.
They termed the conference a vital platform for regional parliamentary collaboration while reinforcing commitments to sustainable governance, democracy and collective regional progress.
The inaugural ceremony of the conference took place at the Punjab Assembly. The event was attended by over 100 representatives from 20 legislatures including delegations from Sri Lanka, the Maldives, the United Kingdom, Zambia, Malaysia and Pakistan.
The distinguished guests included 13 Speakers, 4 Deputy Speakers, and 1 Chairman. Speaker of the National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq graced the session as a chief guest while CPA Chairperson Dr Christopher Kalila praised the initiative as a much-needed step for regional parliamentary engagement.
Addressing the conference, CPA Chairperson Dr Kalila said the long-standing issue of the CPA’s legal status was now nearing resolution. The CPA Status Bill passed its third reading in the House of Commons on December 18, 2024 and has also received royal assent.
Senator Pele Peter Tinggom from Malaysia said, “We had been facing numerous challenges and there is a need to take collective measures to deal with these challenges.”
He said global health crises were emerging ahead and “we have to declare a health emergency so that we are able to fight against COVID-like diseases. We have to maintain peace in the region and the need of the hour is to sustain our economies.”
CPA Secretary-General Mataya said this was a new opportunity to formulate a strategy by making legislation in a new direction. He emphasized the importance of strengthening and stabilizing parliament.
Deputy Speaker of the UK House of Commons Nusrat Ghani stated that constructive criticism in parliamentary democracy could help improve the democratic system. She also highlighted the need to make the platforms of the CPA and IPA more effective.
During the conference, Speaker of Selangor Malaysia Lau Weng San stated that the Punjab Assembly’s initiative to host the parliamentary conference was commendable and that the event would help the participants understand and improve each other’s parliamentary systems.
Sindh Assembly Speaker Syed Owais Qadir Shah emphasized the need to work on class divisions and the rights of minorities. “We must promote regional and global relations,” he added.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati said, “We have witnessed British history wherein parliament had been weakened and we are now seeing the same practice in light of the PECA act and the ban on political parties.”
