Federal Consultation

 
Federal consultation
Monday, 24 march 2014
Islamabad Hotel, Islamabad

Purpose of Event:
 Federal consultation was conducted in Islamabad hotel on countering Corruption. The objective of the consultation was :
 to improve engagement between citizens and government in order to promote good governance in Pakistan, by strengthening citizens‟ voice and public accountability
 to solicit views of the new government on its plans and commitment to countering corruption and improving accountability and transparency mechanisms, and
 to seek commitment of political party leaders to DELTA‟s Citizens‟ Charter of Demands document, and their integrity pledge to countering corruption.

 

Proceeding of event:
 DELTA conducted this consultation on countering corruption at Islamabad hotel.

After recitation of holy Quran and inaugural address, a skit by school children on corruption in our society was presented, with a girl speaking as “dianatdari/ honesty” and a boy “flaunting corruption” was amusive and appreciated. Also DELTA‟s visual was presented to the audience, illustrating clips from the meetings conducted under the project.

Subsequently the forum was declared open and the speakers were invited to sit on the stage. the following speakers delivered keynote speeches at the first half of the event:

Mr.   WaseemHashmi,   Manager,   Consumer   Rights   Commission   of   Pakistan,   showed   a presentation on Civil Society‟s Role in Highlighting Corruption. He presented Tranparency International‟s (TI) tables to show the corruption index of different countries.

Mr. Umar Cheema, Senior Correspondent, The News, spoke on Corruption and Media, and not only did he spoke about how media has played a role in highlighting key corruption cases but how journalists have faced the brunt by sacrificing their lives, as there is no protection for whistleblowers in our law as yet. He touched on investigative journalism also.

Col (R) Khurshid Alam, Ex-DG NAB, KP, spoke on NAB‟s Role in Countering Corruption. He introduced NAB Ordinance and how it is not an effective law. Under this law the maximum punishment is 14 years which has never been given to anyone in Pakistan to date, while in China the punishment for corruption is execution. He said by executing one person you scare a million people and it serves as a deterrent.

Countering Corruption with Right to Information (RTI), was the topic for Zahid Abdullah, who is Coordinator of a Coalition of RTI of 22 NGOs. He lamented that the new RTI for federal level needs to be an effective law and should be enacted soon; and requested Farhatullah Babar to provide update on it as he was heading the Senate Committee for it.

Mr. Qazi Anwar, Former Senator and former President of Supreme Court Bar Association, spoke at length about Judiciary‟s Role in Promoting & Countering Corruption. His line appreciated by the audience was that “who will judge the judges”. He presented many articles in the law that were ineffective and needed improvement for making everyone equal in the eyes of law.

Then the speakers were requested to go back to their tables, and the guests of honour were requested to stay on the stage. First Barrister MasudKauser, Former Governor of KPK, under the PPP rule, spoke on Countering corruption in FATA. He informed the audience that in case of FATA, due to security concerns, tracking and monitoring corruption was a challenging task. He cited examples of how people were killed and injured when monitoring in FATA.

The event was addressed by Naazlee Sardar, President of DELTA, who showed a presentation on Charter of Demands, which was made by DELTA in 2013. She was happy to report that some of the demands were already met by the PTI govt, like passing legislation on Right to Information, to  enable  citizens  to  access  information,  like  replacing  Anti-Corruption  Establishment,  a toothless  body  with  Ehtesab  Cell;  replacing  ACE‟s 18  grade  officer  who  could  not  check corruption by his superiors in 19 – 22 grades, with a commissioner with more powers. She however lamented that reports were circulating how PTI govt was indulging in corruption; the CM Citizens Complaint Cell (CCC) is housed between Governor house and CM house, so how many citizens can access it. Moreover DELTA filed a complaint but found CCC ineffective because after lapse of 5 months an official written response is still awaited. She presented International Corruption Index, and showed how Pakistan under current Nawaz Sharif PML N rule had actually improved by 12 points in 2013. However she showed a list of corruption cases that were committed under PPP rule, and said it was time that we as a nation raised our voice against corruption and eliminated it by claiming our rights in an appropriate manner.

Panel Discussants were Party Representatives & Guests of Honour, who presented their perspective and plans under Party Manifesto for Countering Corruption. This was presented by Senator Farhat Ullah Babar, Pakistan People‟s Party (PPP) and Ms. Fauzia Kasuri, Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf (PTI).

Senator  Babar  thanked  USAID  and  DELTA  for  selecting  such  an  important  topic  and appreciated both for this effort on advocating against corruption. He wished more power to the elbows of USAID and DELTA for arranging the consultation, and thanked the participants for staying on to listen to him despite the late hour and the torrentful rain. He informed all that he was working on RTI act and promised that it will be presented for enactment very soon. He responded to NAB DG‟s remark that in China execution is punishment for corruption…he said even then China was not a corruption-free society. He said it was important to eliminate the allure of corruption and cited how the child depicting corruption had said that “corrupt people travel first class, they have BMWs and mansions to live in.  He said that this is what attracts people to corruption. He said institutionalised corruption is there as how could military officers get 3 plots allotted under the law in DHAs. What could be the justification for such an act by the military but yet it was legitimate. He said the charter of demands by Naazlee Sardar was an excellent piece of work, and should not be shoved on shelves; instead another project should be formulated around this charter, where a caucus of parliamentarians is formulated, who together could work with DELTA in seeking implementation of these demands of citizens. He said we should not forget that no matter how good the demands are drafted, they remain meaningless until they are implemented, and that is only possible with the cooperation of lawmakers. Thus he was advising DELTA and USAID to follow up this project with another project, where the focus is no longer on engagement of citizens in developing of the charter, but with a shift in focus, to where  DELTA would seek to engage parliamentarians, by forming a caucus, who will work on implementation of the demands given in the charter.

Ms. Fauzia Kasuri, Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf (PTI) spoke last at the event. She was extremely apologetic for being late, and also apologized on behalf of her youth representatives accompanying her, for being late, but blamed it on the rains, as they were coming from Abbottabad after participating in Medical College function. However she thanked USAID and DELTA for the selection of the topic and spoke of how Americans were generous people, and had donated generously to her, when she was collecting in churches and synagogues, for flood affectees. She said unlike us, they believe in humanity, and don‟t discern between who is from Allah‟s creations and who is not. She said our Allah is „rabulaalimeen‟ which means the world‟s God and yet we as Muslims, were fixated on differentiating between Allah‟s Muslims and non- Muslims. She said we should rise as a nation to complain against corruption. We should not tolerate the wrongdoings where we have famine in Thar, while we have ample to drink and eat; and our govts are totally responsible for the state of corruption that Pakistan finds itself in. She said PTI had given hope of change to women and youth, and it was striving for making Pakistan rid of corruption. She said how she would enjoy flying with PIA as a little girl and now was staying away from it, as it was no more an airline which can boast that “great people to fly with it”. She said it was unbelievable how brazenly PIA via corruption is in its present state, and even then decided this month to pay taxes for its staff. She said the day FBR issues a notification holding all parliamentarians accountable for compulsory payment of their taxes would be fair day for Pakistan. She said in the name of privatization Pakistan and its assets were being sold. She said she gave up her American passport, although she loved her life in America and the American people, but she opted for Pakistan when she had to make the choice. She said our efforts will not go to waste and we will have to continue striving to get rid of corruption and make Pakistan a state that would be ideal for us to live in.

At the end of the consultation, certificates were awarded by the guests of honour to DELTA‟s staff, to four members of DELTA Media forum, for providing good coverage to DELTA‟s activities, and to the children who contributed to the event. This was followed by dinner and music.

Achievements of the Event:

  • Awareness about elimination of corruption was sought and achieved
  • Presentation of COD was made to highlight points to eliminate the corruption in different sectors of the province. 
  • Both panellist speakers spoke on how zero tolerance was part of their party?s agenda, and gave their pledge to countering corruption.
  • Farhatullah Babar, suggested that the Citizens? Charter of Demands should not be shelved but a new project should be formulated where focus is on engaging parliamentarians for countering corruption, by seeking their collaboration in implementing the Demands given in the Citizens? charter of DELTA

Participant Detail

Total Number of Participants:

 

87

Number of Male Participants:

68

Number of Female Participants:

19

Attachments
Attachment 1: Pictures with captions Attachment
Attachment 2: News publications Attachment

 

 

Attachment 1: Pictures of event 24 March 2014

Ms. Fauzia Kasuri , (Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf)

Senator Farhat Ullah Babar (PPP)

Naazlee Sardar,Prezident Delta

Barrister Masud Kauser, Former Governor KPK

Naazlee Sardar giving Presentation on Charter of Demand

Qazi Anwar, Former Presidents speech on corruption

Life Side: Col (r )Khurshid Alam, Ex-DG NAB KP, Qazi Anwar, Former President  Supreme Court Bar Association, Senator Farhat Ullah Babar (PPP) and Wasim Hashmi, Manager CRCP

Guest Speakers from Left Side: Masud Kauser, Former Governor KPK, Col. Khurshid Alam Ex-DG NAB KPK, Qazi Anwar, Former President Supreme Court Bar Association, Zahid Abdullah, Coordinator coalition RTI, Waseem Hashmi, Manager CRCP and Umar Cheema Senior Correspondent, The News.

Masud Kauser Speech on Countering corruption in FATA

Umar Cheema Senior Correspondent, The News : Corruption and Media

Rizwana Khan (USAID) receiving award for CVPA from Senator Farhat Ullah Babar, Barrister Masud Kauser, Former Governor KPK, Ms. Fauzia Kasuri (PTI) with Naazlee Sardar President DELTA announcing it.

Senator Farhat Ullah Babar, Former Governor Masud Kauser and Ms. Fauzia Kasuri giving certificates to Peshawar Media Forum Members who gave excellent coverage to SCVA project through their publications. Members : Qadoos (APP) Bokhar Shah (NEWS) and Sajjad Hussain (Ijtehad)

Participants of Conference

Participants of Conference

Delta Group Photo with media and Guest s

Panel Speakers of Delta Consultation

Honourable Guests and participants

Participants of Consultation

 

News Paper Publications