KARACHI, Dec 10: Speakers at a seminar on human rights held here on Friday urged civil society organisations to help educate and empower the masses so that they could snatch their constitutional rights from the “exploitative establishment” blamed for maintaining the status quo in the country.

The seminar on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was held in connection with Human Rights Day 2010. Retired Justice Shaiq Usmani, Munir Malik, former senator Abdul Hayee Baloch, Mahnaz Rehman, Fareed Awan, Nizamuddin Nizamani and Amarnath Motumal were among the speakers.

They observed that since most citizens did not know about their rights guaranteed under the constitution, they could not seek them from the establishment. The establishment, they held, feared that giving the rights to the masses would ultimately curtail its powers and thus could prove to be an encroachment of its authority.

Although the judiciary had become relatively independent now than earlier, a lot of struggle would have to be made by civil society and the judiciary itself to secure its rightful place in the system as guaranteed under the constitution, they stressed, adding that the struggle could ensure that the judiciary was able to function without any sort of influence.

They also noted with concern that many judiciary verdicts were not implemented promptly by the executive and this had slowed down the process of good governance and delivery of the benefits of such verdicts to the masses.

Justice Shaiq Usmani urged civil society to launch a massive awareness campaign, particularly at the time of the general elections, to educate voters so that they could elect only good and honest legislators. He said people must realise that it would be the same legislators who would be taking decisions for the masses over the next five years. “If good and honest people will be there in the elected houses, the decision will be in the interest of the masses and will bring about improvements in the life of the common man,” he said.

The retired judge told the audience that the recent movement launched by the lawyer fraternity proved that if any struggle by a dedicated group of people for a noble cause would definitely succeed in gaining popular support. “The movement for the independence of the judiciary proved that no oppressive force howsoever powerful — be it a military dictatorship or a civilian one — can withstand the will of the masses,” he said.

Justice Usmani observed that laws guaranteeing certain rights were now being enacted and this was what the people in the West had attained after a long struggle. However, he added, the actual problem of this country was that these laws were not being implemented in an effective manner and, therefore, the masses were unable to get their due rights despite the fact that they were guaranteed under the constitution.

Munir Malik, a key leader of the lawyers movement, said that the 18th amendment gave people many good things and one of them was access to information. He said people, particularly civil society organisations, should benefit from this law by seeking information and then working for a positive change, besides persuading the government to improve the governance and its performance.

Mr Malik said that this law was being used very effectively in India by its civil society organizations. After getting the required information, they moved courts and got the governance improved, he said, adding that this way they brought out more transparent and checked corruption in the governance. This could be done in Pakistan as well, he said.

At present, he observed, seeking and getting justice in Pakistan was not an easy job. It required plenty of time and resources and was as such out of the reach of the poor masses, the lawyer leader said, and stressed the need for making efforts towards ensuring easy, prompt and cheaper justice.

Former senator from Balochistan Hayee Baloch said that people of his province had never been given their due rights over the resources of their province. “The people of Balochistan have been subjected to exploitation by the establishment, which robbed them of their due rights and resources. Whenever they demanded their rights and control over their resources, they were declared anti-state elements and subjected to exploitation and repression. The establishment used full forces to suppress them. Baloch leaders were eliminated, political activists were taken away and they vanish, and protesters were sent behind the bars for demanding their due rights,” he deplored.

He pointed out that his province produced plenty of natural gas and minerals but these resources reached everywhere in the country but Balochistan itself. He said that similarly, when the Balochistan people demanded their own control over the port of Gawadar and other such major facilities, they were dubbed as traitors. He said that leave alone the high positions and technical jobs, even the posts as low as of watchman, clerk, peon etc were not given to Baloch people.

Mr Baloch alleged that Balochistan had been kept backward deliberately as no schools, hospitals and vital infrastructure had been developed in the province. He warned that Balochistan people were not losing patience and the must get their constitutional rights without any further delay.

Mahnaz Rehman of the Aurat Foundation told the audience that legislation relating to domestic violence could not be passed into law because after getting through the National Assembly, the bill could not reach the Senate within the stipulated time. She said the entire process of legislation would have to be repeated.

She informed the seminar participants that there were four separate women welfare organisations functioning under the United Nations but now they had been merged under the title 'UW Women' so that women's issues could be handled by the UN easily and effectively.