December 30; Geo news channel is to telecast PILDAT�s lively dialogue on How Committed is the Western World to Democracy on Tuesday, December 30, 2008 at 11:05 pm PST.

The dialogue that took place between the Western Panelists including Lord Ahmed of Rotherham, UK House of Lords (Labour); Dr. Ashraf Choudhary, QSO, MP, New Zealand Parliament and Dr. Farzana Shaikh, South Asia Expert, Chatham House, UK and the Pakistani panelists including Dr. Rifaat Hussain, Chairperson, Department of Defence & Strategic Studies, Quaid-e-Azam University Islamabad and Mr. Shafqat Mahmood, Analyst and former Senator & Minister, and moderated by PILDAT�s Executive Director Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, has been part of the PILDAT Dialogue Series on Understanding Relations between the Muslims & the Western World: With Special Focus on Pakistan.

The dialogue sitting especially addresses questions such as whether the Western World is committed to the concept of democracy as a global ideal; does the West adopt a different yardstick when dealing with the Muslim countries; why Muslim societies are, by and large, undemocratic? Why Muslims do not democratise their societies instead of blaming the West for double standards; why, despite its rhetoric for democracy, the West doesn�t accept democracy that brings �Islamists� into power and how does it justify supporting autocratic regimes in the Muslim World, etc.

PILDAT and Geo Network entered into an exclusive partnership for world-wide telecasting of the 3-part dialogue. The dialogues are conducted in Urdu language.