PESHAWAR: Speakers at a seminar here on Tuesday urged political parties to join hands against terrorism and make serious efforts for enforcement of National Action Plan and protection of human rights.

The seminar titled ‘Protection and Rights of Citizens: Political Consensus’ was organised by Centre for Social Justice (CSJ).

CSJ executive director Peter Jacob, former MNA Bushra Gohar, ANP leader Sardar Hussain Babak, Dr Khadim Husain, Arshad Aziz Malik, PPP’s Syed Ayub Shah, Shahid Mehmood, Augustin Jacob and Suneel Malik addressed the seminar, moderated by Naina Samson.

On the occasion, CSJ’s report on the analysis of pledges, actions and performance of political parties regarding minority rights was also launched.

Speakers call for enforcement of National Action Plan

The report said that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) fulfilled none of its five promises made in the election manifesto 2018, though it made partial progress on two promises.

Peter Jacob said that CSJ shared the grief of families and the entire nation affected by the Peshawar blast. He said that civil society of Pakistan welcomed the meeting of the apex committee and the scheduled all-party conference and supported the national resolve against extremism and militancy.

He said that success against extremism depended on changes in the policy paradigm aimed at equality of rights. He said that political process should enable substantial changes in the legal framework to inculcate the standards of justice and equality envisioned in the speech of Mohammad Ali Jinnah on Aug 11, 1947.

Bushra Gohar said that the political parties failed to address the issue human rights violation.

Arshad Aziz Malik said that Constitution of Pakistan guaranteed the protection of the life and property of every citizen. He added that political and armed forces must resolve to take serious action to curb the acts of terrorism and extremism.

Syed Ayub Shah said that political parties must make efforts to stop human rights violation and introduce policies and strategies to promote social cohesion and peaceful coexistence.

Shahid Mehmood said that it was the responsibility of the state institutions and governments to implement the provisions of the international laws and the Constitution of Pakistan.

Suneel Malik said that political parties were shying away from introducing progressive policy reforms to address the issues of human rights. He added that political parties must not forget their commitments to the electorate and focus on action to implement the pledges they made in the election manifesto for improving human rights.

The CSJ report revealed that the Punjab government during 2008 and 2022 introduced 11 policy actions followed by the federal government with nine actions, Balochistan with eight, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with seven and Sindh with six actions.

It said the concrete information on the utilisation of funds allocated for scholarship, places of worship and skill development was not made public or there was a lack of implementation due to an absence of notifications.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2023