BAHAWALPUR, PAKISTAN: Supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) Pakistan, the Department of Political Science (DPS) at the Islamia University of Bahawalpur (IUB) organized an international academic conference on democratic devolution and its impact on state and society in Bahawalpur, Punjab from 25 to 26 March 2021.
The conference featured 18 different thematic sessions with numerous political experts and multi-disciplined academicians and researchers from Pakistan, Germany, Canada, Malaysia, China, Belgium, Turkey, Sweden, and UK. The guests discussed the concept of democratic devolution and its theoretical and practical implications in national as well as global perspectives.
Chief Guest Engineer Professor Dr. Athar Mahboob (TI), Vice-Chancellor IUB, in his welcome remarks said:
A balanced division of powers can bring peace and harmony in a diverse country like Pakistan. We need to create a critical mass of knowledgeable individuals and learn from the best practices around the world through events like this international conference.
Professor Dr. Mussawar Hussain Bukhari, Chairman DPS, added:
Federalism is the most effective mechanism to develop cooperation and coordination between diverse political entities. The goal of this conference is to present ideas on challenges and opportunities of decentralized politics in Pakistan.
Dr. Soeren Keil from the Canterbury Christ Church University, UK in his online keynote address explored the relationship between democratic devolution and conflict resolution. He said:
The search for federal solutions is a difficult and challenging one, but it must be undertaken on priority as it ensures territorial integrity of a state and provides self-government for diverse units.
Dr. Steffen Kudella, Resident Representative of HSF Pakistan, highlighted:
A decentralized political system that combines a general national government with sub-national governments is probably the best way to structure the government of an economically, politically, linguistically and culturally diverse country like Pakistan. Pakistan strives for more democracy, public accessibility, and subsidiarity.
The two-day international conference titled “Federalism, State and Society” was attended by the students and researchers from IUB as well as from other universities in Pakistan and abroad. It aimed at discussing topics relevant to the HSF Pakistan flagship project Model CCI. Model CCI is a nation-wide debating event on inter-provincial and center-provincial matters with 40 public universities in Pakistan.
All COVID-19 SOPs mandated by the Government of Pakistan were diligently followed and complied with. The majority of participants joined the event online.
You may find more event photos and speaker quotes at twitter.com/HSF_Pakistan and twitter.com/PolscienceIUB. For more information on IUB please visit www.iub.edu.pk, and on HSF Pakistan pakistan.hss.de. Press contact: islamabad(at)hss.de.
