After a 14-year interval, the Sindh Assembly welcomed a major international parliamentary gathering as it hosted the seventh CPA Asia Regional and the second joint CPA Asia and Southeast Asia regional conference. The three-day event brought together more than 150 speakers, deputy speakers, parliamentarians and senior officials from four countries and 17 provincial assemblies.<\/p>\n
The conference carried the theme “Parliaments of the Future: Reimagining Democracy through Trust, Inclusion, Innovation and Peace” and featured opening, plenary and breakout sessions that examined how democratic institutions can be strengthened through parliamentary coherence, public trust, transparency and inclusion.<\/p>\n
Discussions ranged across contemporary challenges including artificial intelligence, fake news and deepfakes, climate change, digital governance, parliamentary accountability and regional peace. Delegates explored practical measures to safeguard democracy and rebuild public confidence.<\/p>\n
Speaker Syed Owais Qadir Shah<\/strong> opened the event by welcoming guests and highlighting Sindh\u2019s historical, cultural and democratic identity. He stressed that dialogue, tolerance and parliamentary cooperation are essential foundations for peace and development.<\/p>\n National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq<\/strong>, Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon<\/strong> and other speakers underlined that trust, inclusion, innovation and peace must serve as core pillars for future parliaments.<\/p>\n On the second day, parallel breakout and plenary sessions identified fake news, deepfakes and irresponsible use of artificial intelligence as serious threats to democracy and public trust. Speakers urged swift and effective responses through legislation, media responsibility and public awareness campaigns.<\/p>\n Sessions on climate change warned that the environmental crisis is hitting vulnerable and marginalized communities hardest, calling for strong legislation and coordinated regional strategies. In discussions on parliamentary accountability, the critical roles of budget, audit and public accounts committees were highlighted as central to democratic resilience.<\/p>\n Plenary deliberations also focused on online harassment and digital violence against women leaders, with participants calling for effective laws to ensure a safe digital environment for all elected representatives.<\/p>\n The conference concluded with a closing ceremony attended by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah<\/strong>, where delegates unanimously adopted the Karachi Declaration. The Sindh Assembly speaker said hosting global parliamentary delegations reflected institutional confidence, transparency and openness, and praised the future-oriented, practical nature of the debates held during the event.<\/p>\n CPA Secretary General Stephen Twigg<\/strong> described the hosting as exemplary and said the Karachi Declaration expresses a shared commitment to democracy, human rights, climate action and regional cooperation. Delegations from Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Malaysia also lauded the conference as successful, purposeful and memorable.<\/p>\n The Karachi Declaration places special emphasis on strengthening parliaments, restoring public trust, and ensuring the participation of women, youth and marginalized groups. It also prioritises digital governance, the responsible use of artificial intelligence and the promotion of sustainable peace across the region.<\/p>\n Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah emphasised that democracy cannot be strong without transparency, accountability and inclusion, and he congratulated the host team and all participating delegations on the successful event. In the evening, a reception at Mohatta Palace honoured national and international guests, where attendees received traditional Sindhi topis and ajrak as tokens of hospitality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sindh Assembly hosts CPA Asia conference producing the Karachi Declaration to strengthen parliaments, digital governance and climate action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":16805,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}