Daily Times

Expert while speaking at a webinar on Saturday urged the governments to reactivate the South Asia Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to curb the militancy and terrorisms, bilateral conflicts and transboundary challenges confronting the region because of climate change. Occupied Kashmir is the flashpoint between the two nuclear nation states where violation of human rights is at its peak. The panel of experts urged the nondemocratic forces to give a chance to people to strengthen democracy and democratic institutions within their countries.

Development Communications Network (Devcom-Pakistan) organized the international webinar on the theme “Ensuring human right for peace in the region”. The panel of experts included former senator Farhatullah Babar, Lt. General (r) Talat Masood, Justice (r) Ali Nawaz Chowhan, General Secretary Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Harris Khalique, Devcom-Pakistan Executive Director Munir Ahmed, an expert from Tehran Dr Yahya Jahangiri, Desert Resource Centre (India) Founder Director Anshul Ojha, Secretary General Human Rights Alliance, Kathmandu (Nepal) Bidur Subedi, Joint Secretary SAARC Human Rights Foundation (Dhaka-Bangladesh) MD Tanbirul Islam, and President International Human Right Movement (London-UK) Rana Basharat Ali Khan.

Seasoned politician and a former senator Farhatullah Babar said some hidden-hands always disrupted the peace efforts in the region primarily between Pakistan and India. Hatred is the political slogan to win vote bank while the region is suffering from poverty, hunger and the impact of climate change. A just and a strong parliamentary system will ensure the fair distribution of resources ultimately addressing human rights. Democratic governments are less likely to go to war.

Justice (r) Ali Nawaz Chowhan, stressed to strengthen the human rights institutions to improve the situation. The National Commission of Human Rights (NCHR), a statutory body under the parliament of Pakistan, is abandoned for the last three years. In the first three years, the Commission investigated the facts to develop 35 reports on a variety of issues for the government to act upon accordingly under the guidance of the Pakistan’s constitution. They all are dusting in the shelves,

Harris Khalique said no justice no peace. The state has many deficiencies in ensuring human rights. The dissenting voices were taken as anti-state and are being considered even today. Forced disappearances in Balochistan and erstwhile FATA districts speaks volumes that the state is not interested to listen to the woes of the people. Militancy is a common challenge for all the countries but no joint action plan exists.