PILDAT is holding a Consultative Session at Lahore on the Revival of Students Unions in Pakistan. The consultative session will be held on Thursday, September 11, 2008 at Hotel Avari, Lahore at 05:00 pm. This is the second of the series of consultations PILDAT is holding on what it considers the important issue of orderly revival of the students� unions in Pakistan.

PILDAT held the first consultative session on the topic in Islamabad on September 4, 2008 where a cross-section of stakeholders such as senior representatives of major political parties, academic institutions, Members of Parliament, Media Associations, Students and representatives of the civil society organisations debated and considered key questions relating to the revival of students unions laid out in the form of a PILDAT Discussion Paper especially prepared on the topic by PILDAT.

The Discussion Paper, revised in the light of the first consultative session in Islamabad, will form the basis of the second consultative session in Lahore. The paper retraces the chronology of ban on Students� Unions in Pakistan while it addresses key questions that need to be addressed at this stage.

The forthcoming PILDAT Series of Consultations, organised in collaboration with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), is a way to engage in an informed discourse with the key stakeholders - Students; Teachers; Parents; Administrators of Educational Institutions; Representatives of the Federal and Provincial Education Ministries and Departments; Politicians especially Parliamentarians and Representatives of Students� Organisations - , and finalise a workable strategy and a future course of action on the orderly revival of the students� unions in Pakistan.