ISLAMABAD: State Minister for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Marriyum Aurangzeb on Wednesday said that strong provincial assemblies were “sine qua non” for democracy, and only strong federating units could build a strong federation and parliament. Democracy derived its strength from parliament, the minister said while addressing the launch of a project titled “Subai (Provincial) Pakistan – Strengthening Provincial Assemblies”, launched in collaboration with the European Union. Eulogising the EU initiative for strengthening the provincial assemblies, Marriyum remarked that it would contribute immensely towards reinforcing democracy in the country. She elaborated that all key components of the ‘Subai’ project were initiated by the National Assembly in 2013 after the establishment of Project Management Unit at the National Assembly by NA Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq. The minister observed that technical assistance of the members of the National and provincial assemblies, senators and human resource development in their secretariats were imperative for the smooth functioning of democracy. She also acknowledged the important role played by the Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Studies and the support extended by it for creating enabling environment for parliament to gain strength. She revealed that the programme for institutional assembly development was initiated in the National Assembly in 2014, and now it was also being replicated and extended to the four provincial legislatures, besides Gilgit-Baltistan and AJK.