Islamabad, September 25: PILDAT�s Democracy Assessment Group that met here today reviewed an indigenous framework to evaluate the quality of democracy in Pakistan as proposed by PILDAT.

The Group brainstormed over the indigenous framework to measure quality of democracy in Pakistan. The Group provided its input on the proposed draft, in addition to reviewing PILDT�s analyses covered under various Democracy Monitors issued since January 2012.

Starting in January 2012, PILDAT has been monitoring, on a periodic basis, events in the country that have had an impact on the quality of democracy in Pakistan. This monitoring has been converted into Democracy Monitors. Democracy Monitor 1 covers the period from January 1 � April 30, 2012; Democracy Monitor 2 covers the period from May 1 to August 6, 2012 and Democracy Monitor 3 covers the period from August 7 to September 6, 2012.

With Mr. Ilahi Bukhsh Soomro, Former Speaker, National Assembly, in the Chair, those who joined the meeting included Mr. Omar Khan Afridi, Former Federal Caretaker Minister; former Chief Secretary, Mr. Cyril Almeida, Analyst; Assistant Editor, Dawn; Dr. Huma Baqai, Chairperson, Department of Social Sciences, Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Dr. Kaiser Bengali, Former Member, National Finance Commission, Senator Mir Hasil Bizenjo, Senior Vice President, Balochistan National Party, Dr. Ijaz Shafi Gilani, Chairman, Gallup Pakistan, Justice (Retd.) Manzoor Gilani, Former Chief Justice, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Moinuddin Haider, Former Governor, Sindh; former Federal Minister for Interior, Senator Javed Jabbar, Former Federal Minister for Media Development, Mr. Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, Secretary General, Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Mr. Wazir Ahmed Jogezai, Former Deputy Speaker National Assembly, Mr. Riaz Khokhar, Former Foreign Secretary, Dr. Hasan-Askari Rizvi, Defence and Political Analyst, Mr. Ghazi Salahuddin, Senior Analyst, Senator S. M. Zafar, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court; Constitutional Expert, Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, Executive Director, PILDAT and Ms. Aasiya Riaz, Joint Director, PILDAT.

This meeting has been facilitated by PILDAT under the project Supporting Monitoring of Democracy, Electoral Reforms and Development of Youth in Pakistan which is supported by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), Government of Denmark. The views expressed by DAG, however, do not represent the views of DANIDA, the Government of Denmark and the Royal Danish Embassy Islamabad.