After completing a six-week internship at the Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services (PIPS), Saifur Rehman expressed profound appreciation for the opportunity saying this internship provided him with firsthand experience and personal growth.
Saifur Rehman is the fourth year Law Undergraduate at Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad, mastering new skills and abilities while encountering novel experiences. “Today marks the conclusion of my six-week internship at the Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services (PIPS). My experience at PIPS has been incredibly rewarding, as I gained a wealth of knowledge from our supervisor Sadia Bashir, Executive Director, Muhammad Zaka, and Honorable Parliamentarians of Pakistan. I also had the opportunity to work alongside incredible colleagues, learning from their diverse perspectives. We engaged in meaningful discussions on various topics related to the three branches of government. The welcoming environment at the institute truly made it feel like home, and I am immensely honored to have had this opportunity” Saif expressed.
He informed that the PIPS was established in 2008 by an act of Parliament. The foundation stone of PIPS was laid by Pakistan’s first female Speaker of the National Assembly Honorable Madam Fehmida Mirza becoming the founding President of the Board of Governors at PIPS. Current Speaker National Assembly Honorable Ayaz Sadiq is acting as the President Board of Governors at PIPS. The institute’s Board of Governors includes members from both the national parliament and the provincial assembly representing the true federalism and inclusivity of the institute.
As a testament to its motto “Dedicated to Parliamentary Excellence,” PIPS functions as the government’s think tank assisting the honorable members of the National Parliament and Provincial Assemblies in both legislative and non-legislative business. The institute provides up-to-date and error-free research to honorable MPs for well-informed decision making in their onerous task of law-making, executive oversight, and representation of the will of the people. PIPS under its Parliamentary Development Programme (PDP) is working for the parliamentary capacity building in Pakistan by arranging training and orientation programs, seminars, workshops, and conferences for the honorable MPs, Parliamentary staff, civil servants assisting the legislature.
For more information about PIPS, follow this link: https://www.pips.gov.pk/about/
About the Internship Program:
The internship programs at PIPS, National Assembly Secretariat, and Senate Secretariat began in 2015 onwards on instructions of the Honorable Speaker Ayaz Sadiq for legislative capacity building of the nation. The internship at the National Assembly is held for six weeks in four batches throughout the year, whereas the internship at the Senate Secretariat is held once in winter and once in summer. Applicants who have completed a minimum of 14 years of education and are under 30 years of age can apply through the respective websites of the National Assembly and the Senate. However, the internship program at PIPS is held once a year for six weeks during July-August, and academic institutes affiliated with PIPS are contacted to send nominations for the internship program.
At the beginning of their internship, all the interns embark on a weeklong orientation at PIPS on “Working of the Parliament: Legislative and Non-legislative Business”. The speakers at this workshop include honorable MPs, members of PIPS, civil servants, honorary academicians, and parliamentary experts as well as officials from various NGO’s and Government organizations. After their orientation, interns are assigned various R&D wings at their respective institutes where under the supervision of their respective supervisors they learn from and assist the honorable MPs in the Parliamentary Affairs.
Lessons learned at PIPS:
During my internship at PIPS, the most important lesson for me was the nomenclature used for, and the professional behavior to be practiced while working with honorable MPs. The MPs are not merely members of parliament, but they are the representatives of the will of the people of this beautiful country Pakistan, while having earned their confidence through general elections. Moreover, they are tasked with the tedious responsibility of the efficient running of the country by way of legislation and executive oversight. Therefore, they are highly respectable members of the nation and have duly earned the right to be addressed as “honorable” Members of Parliament.
The second most important lesson learned is that 5-10 unfortunate minutes of disorder during the session of the assembly, neither represent 8-12 hours of the session of the assembly nor the work of the standing committees.
“In my personal opinion, I would request the youth of Pakistan to not succumb to the propaganda disinformation and misinformation being spread rapidly in this digital era. Furthermore, I would recommend participating in these internship programs as an Honorable MP holding tens of portfolios direly requires your assistance and diverse perspectives in resolving the issues faced by them on a day-to-day basis” Saif concluded.
