Islamabad, October 18: At a PILDAT Evaluation Workshop involving Parliamentarians, Media, Citizens Groups and Political Parties, Panellists and participants agreed that the involvement of Involvement of Parliament, Political Parties, Media and Citizens Groups must for effective Budget Process in Pakistan.

Dr. Sania Nishtar, President Heartfile, an NGO Think Tank, Mr. M. Ziauddin, Executive Editor The Express Tribune and Mr. Rasheed Godil, MNA; Member National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance, were panellists at the Workshop while a large number of stakeholders including Parliamentarians, academics, citizens groups and media participated in the workshop.

Opening the workshop, Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, PILDAT Executive Director, said that it may be surprising to many why we are taking up the subject of Budget in the month of October while the budget session starts in June � but it is the month of October when Budget Call Circular is initiated by the Ministry of Finance and for stakeholders to make an effective contribution in influencing the budget, this is the time to initiate this. He said that PILDAT has been working to make the Federal Budget Process more inclusive and to strengthen the channels and practices of Parliamentary input, scrutiny and oversight of the national budget. The workshop today is to evaluate the process and to take stock of the contributions in this regard.

He also lead the panel and participants through the PILDAT Budget Process Guide launched to facilitate and strengthen the role of Parliament, Political Parties, Citizens Groups and Media in the Federal Budget Process in Pakistan that contains a variety of papers, case studies and reports on how to make the federal and Parliamentary budget process more effective in Pakistan. The various case studies, especially from countries such as Canada and India, highlight how various segments of the democratic polity in the two countries affect the budget formulation, its scrutiny and oversight. Mr. Mehboob acknowledged and thanked the Parliamentary Centre, Canada, PILDAT�s partner in implementing the project on Parliamentary and Political Party Strengthening Project which is funded by Canada�s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade�DFAIT.

Dr. Sania Nishtar, President Heartfile an NGO think tank commended PILDAT for focusing on the �process� and not just the �outputs� which is the usual practice. She said that PILDAT has made cutting edge contributions in the field of strengthening democracy and democratic institutions and its focus on strengthening Parliamentary budget process is crucial to the strengthening of Parliament. She said that Canadian experience is a great example as discussed in the Guide.

Mr. Abdul Rasheed Godil, MNA and member National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance acknowledged PILDAT�s work and believed that the initiative to change the process now rests with the Parliament. He agreed that voices from the media, citizens group and political parties in this regard will strengthen the hand of Parliament.

Mr. M. Ziauddin, Executive Editor Express Tribune said that media has been striving to bring to light facts and figures about the budget every year and agreed that media spotlight is necessary to strengthen the budget process.

Participants underscored urged Government and the Parliament to take concrete steps to bring in required reforms in the budget process at this stage in the begging of the budget cycle.