Islamabad, February 17, 2015: Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq has urged the European Union Member States to join hands with the leading democracies of the Muslim World, including Pakistan, to promote inter-faith harmony and respect for cultural diversity. He was speaking to a four-member parliamentary delegation of the European Union, which called on him in his Chamber here at the Parliament House.

The delegation, comprising Ms Jean Lambert, Chair, Green/European Free Alliance, from the United Kingdom, Mr Richard Howitt, 1st Vice-Chair, Socialists and Democrat from the United Kingdom, Mr Michael Galher, European People's Party, from Germany and Mr Sajjad Karim, Standing rapporteur in the International Trade Committee, European Conservatives and Reformists group, from the United Kingdom, is currently on a visit to Pakistan to review the existing ties between the two sides.

The EU parliamentarians praised Pakistan’s continued strides towards democracy and parliamentary supremacy.  They also vehemently condemned the spate of terrorism in Pakistan and sympathised the tragic loss of innocent lives in Peshawar and other places.

The Speaker explained the visiting delegation the background of the passage of the 21st Amendment, which paved the way for the establishment of the military courts. He termed the parliamentary approval to such courts as an “extraordinary move taken to counter extraordinary circumstances.” He said that these courts were time-bound and were intended to be a “stop-gap” arrangement with a two-year mandate, as envisaged by the National Action Plan.

He said it was important for the World to realise that Pakistan was the biggest victim of the War on Terror as it had lost more than 60 thousand citizens while it had played havoc to the country’s economy and progress.

He also said that it was important to send strong message to the terrorist groups, who were playing with the lives and property of the innocent and law-abiding citizens. No state could tolerate such heinous crimes against humanity and hence it was essential to meet them with iron hand. The Speaker stressed the world community to firmly stand by Pakistan. “We are fighting a war for global safety and security.  At this critical juncture, we expect the world community to be on our side,” said the Speaker.

The EU Parliamentarians took keen interest in the working of the parliament and sought quarries form the Speaker on the Electoral Reforms, enhanced parliamentary scrutiny of the Executive and its legislative performance. Mr. Micheal Garlar, the German MP opined that the prime area of performance for the parliamentarians was the Parliament. The people had elected them to check the performance of the Government of the day instead of taking on to the streets. It was therefore their duty to represent the people on the floor rather than boycotting the legislatures.

The two sides also reviewed the institutional cooperation in shape of the EU’s sponsored project of “Improving Parliamentary Performance in Pakistan –IP3” and expressed satisfaction on its performance.