Islamabad, January 29, 2026: The Advisor to the Chairman Senate on Special Initiatives and the Project Development Unit (PDU) held a meeting with the Chief of Mission and representatives of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Pakistan Office, to discuss the establishment of a parliamentary platform on migration aimed at strengthening institutional collaboration on migration governance.
The meeting, facilitated by the Project Development Unit (PDU), Senate Secretariat, focused on positioning migration as a key cross-cutting policy issue with national, regional, and global dimensions.
Advisor Rida Qazi welcomed the UN IOM delegation and outlined the objectives of the engagement, emphasizing the growing strategic importance of migration. She highlighted the need for structured parliamentary involvement to enhance legislative understanding, strengthen oversight, and promote policy coherence in addressing migration-related challenges and opportunities.
She said the Senate of Pakistan intends to develop a dedicated parliamentary platform to address migration as a multidimensional issue. Pakistan, she noted, faces three distinct migration challenges—economic, environmental, and rights-based—which require a unified platform to support harmonized policies and consistent national messaging. The proposed platform is envisioned as a mechanism to promote evidence-based legislation and to enhance Pakistan’s parliamentary engagement on migration at national and international forums in support of the executive.
The Chief of Mission, IOM Pakistan, expressed full support for the initiative and outlined potential areas of cooperation with the Senate and its Secretariat. Discussions included IOM’s offer to provide orientation sessions and capacity-building support for parliamentarians, as well as exchanges on key thematic areas such as effective migration management, migration and development, global and regional migration frameworks, and climate-induced mobility. She also highlighted the potential for constructive parliamentary contributions to the implementation of the Global Compact for Migration.
The meeting concluded with an understanding on initial priorities and broad next steps, laying the groundwork for sustained cooperation between the Senate of Pakistan, the Senate Secretariat, and IOM to strengthen parliamentary engagement on migration governance.
