ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain on Friday called for effective legislation to discourage incidents of domestic violence and said that criminal cases should be registered in such incidents. He was talking to Justice (r) Ali Nawaz Chowhan, the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) chairman, and NCHR Sindh member Anis Haroon at the Aiwan-e-Sadr. He stressed the importance of protection of rights of marginalised segments of society. The president called for establishing institutions to provide people legal assistance and said that institutions such as NCHR were a must for protection of human rights in the society. He underlined that the Constitution of Pakistan had provided complete protection to the basic human rights of all citizens of the state. He noted that due to prompt measures taken by the government, the situation of human rights was better in Pakistan than most countries of the world. “However, more efforts should be taken to further improve the situation,” he said. The president stressed the need for raising awareness about human rights among the masses through effective print and electronic media campaigns. The NCHR chairman briefed the president about the steps being taken by the commission to promote and protect human rights and also presented a set of reports to him. Meanwhile, the president administered the oath of office to Syed Tahir Shahbaz as Wafaqi Mohtasib (Ombudsman) during a ceremony held at the Awian-e-Sadr. The ceremony was attended by senior civil officers, academicians and people from all walks of life. Later, Federal Ombudsman Syed Tahir Shahbaz called on President Mamnoon Hussain. The president congratulated him on his appointment as federal ombudsman and wished him well in discharge of his new responsibilities. “The institution of Wafaqi Mohtasib should continue enhancing its efforts for providing expeditious relief to common man and for serving the cause of humanity.” The entire oath taking ceremony and the oath was conducted and administered in national language. Healthy lifestyle: President Mamnoon Hussain on Friday said that efforts should be made to adopt a healthy lifestyle by shunning habits such as smoking. “Therefore, it is required that not only relevant government departments in cooperation with welfare institutions should undertake all necessary steps to raise awareness among the people but also the scope of efforts to provide maximum facilities for treatment should be expanded,” he said in his message on the occasion of World Brain Day. “At a time when every sixth person in the world is getting affected by complex and fatal disease of stroke, it is imperative that awareness should be raised among the public to enable them to protect themselves from this disease by adopting preventive measures,” the president said. “All efforts to raise awareness and prevent people from getting affected from such complex diseases are akin to serving the humanity. Similarly other related diseases which cause deaths and paralysis are treatable which can be overcome by adopting preventive measures,” he said. “In this regard, the efforts of World Federation of Neurology and World Stroke Organisation are commendable,” the president said. Published in Daily Times, July 22nd , 2017.