| Bass hopeful for the future leaders of Pakistan |
| Wednesday, 11 June 2008 | |
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Dr Josie Bass, who has especially come from the United States to train budding leaders in various sectors of Pakistan, says that she is hopeful about capabilities and qualifications of the future parliamentarians and legislators in Pakistan even after the apex judiciary invalidated the mandatory condition of graduation for the upcoming assembly members. Having over thirty years experience in government relations and international development outreach for her corporate and public clients Bass said that compulsory education or no education the peoples’ representatives in assemblies and legislatures could be adequately trained in the matters of governance and public legislation through properly designed programmes. That is one of the primary objectives of her nine years old organisation ALVA Consortium that has been established for the benefit of peoples’ representation in various developing countries in Asia and Africa. For more than twenty years, Bass was an active volunteer leader of the largest civil rights organisation in the US, the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured people (NAACP). Throughout this period Bass was an active volunteer with Maryland organisations seeking to overturn discriminatory laws in fair housing, education and employment. Bass said that one thing is for sure that training programmes for skill development of governance, parliamentary, and legislative affairs are difficult tasks for the prospective public representatives and also consume time. The News exclusively interviewed her after she had conducted her workshop on advocacy and lobbying skills in Karachi in the first week of June for young members of the political parties, members of the new assemblies, activists belonging to non-governmental organisations and labour unions. The Women Media Centre in Pakistan and the United States Consulate-General in Karachi sponsored the training event. She will also hold similar workshops in Peshawar, Lahore, and Islamabad during her current visit to Pakistan. Bass said that she has sufficient experience in handling and educating prospective legislators and emerging leaders in some of the most underprivileged and war-torn nations despite their intra-national cultural and ethnic differences. “I don’t think there will be any difficulty in properly educating and providing leadership skills to public representatives and assembly members in Pakistan whose socio-economic status is much better than many other strife-hit states,” she said. Regarding reserving seats for women in the Pakistani parliament and assemblies with enhanced ratio under the electoral reforms’ programme of the previous military-led dispensation, Bass said that the President Pervez Musharraf-led government was not the first one in the global community to introduce such a system in favour of the due women representation in the system of governance and parliamentary affairs. “At least I know Rwanda and Liberia as the countries where after the civil war the system of proportional representation of women in parliament and legislatures was introduced to resolve the grim situation of women’s rights in these countries,” Bass explained. Moreover, Bass said that she did not think that the international financial institutions had been offering monetary incentives to the third-world countries such as Pakistan for introducing reserved seats for women in the assemblies. “Who gives you money for doing the right thing and I believe that enhancing the number of seats for women legislators surely pays off in the parliamentary system of governance,” she said. Bass who herself has extensively worked as a civil rights and community activist during the Dr Martin Luther King Jr-led American Civil Rights Movement during 60s said that she is very glad to see the year-long lawyers and civil society-led movement in Pakistan to restore the independence of judiciary. She said the current movement showed the commitment of the relevant civil society quarters of Pakistan for securing their constitutional rights. As a civil rights activist she was much saddened to see the arbitrary move of President Pervez Musharraf to dismiss dozens of independent-minded judges of superior courts on November 3, 2007 when he had imposed emergency rule in Pakistan, she said. To a question, Bass said that it was difficult for her to determine the righteous course of diplomatic action for the US as a global superpower against the Pervez Musharraf-led government when it had imposed the rule of emergency and removed several judges of superior courts. “Obviously it is a difficult situation for any country when such a thing is done by one of its closest allies in the international affairs,” she said. Bass after successfully launching her leadership training schools in Kenya and Rwanda said that she is planning to set up a similar training institution for future leaders and legislators in the South Asian region and if she found right circumstances and facilities she will also commence and base her brainchild project in Pakistan. So far she is optimistic about training opportunities and skill development prospects for the newly elected members of the Pakistani parliament and legislatures that came into existence as a result of February 18 general elections. She said that she is also hopeful about the future of democracy and parliamentary form of governance in Pakistan after the February 18 general polls despite the fact that none of the contesting political parties was able to secure the much needed numerical superiority to constitute the democratically elected government on its own. |
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