HYDERABAD, July 24: A seminar has demanded that in accordance with the United Nations charter, access to justice should be ensured to all people and violation of human rights as a political weapon should be stopped forthwith.

It demanded that in accordance with the 1940 Pakistan Resolution, the provinces should be given autonomy and instead of holding what it called engineered elections, people should be given the right to elect their true representatives.

The seminar on “Human rights violations and access to justice” was organized by the Sindh National Council at the press club here on Saturday.

Speaking on the occasion, Justice (rtd) Nasir Aslam Zahid observed that since independence dispensation of justice had never remained on the priority list of any government and it had been given little importance.

He pointed out that the government in one year had suffered a loss of Rs60 billion due to Wapda and KESC but it had allocated only Rs8 billion for judiciary.

He said cases had piled up and people had to wait for justice for years.

Justice Zahid observed that delay in dispensation of justice also amounted to human rights violations.

Yousuf Leghari said that according to law and Shariat, Sindh had inherent a right over waters of the River Indus but they were not only being deprived of this right but also of other resources.

He said 400,000 cases were pending adjudication in courts and 890,000 prisoners were languishing in jails, waiting for justice.

Muslim Shamim, Taj Joyo, Hussain Bux Thebo, Zafar Rajput, Nazeer Memon, Prof Liaquat Aziz, Dodo Mehri, Punhal Sario and Rasool Bux Unnar also spoke on the occasion.