ISLAMABAD: The parliamentary committee on appointment of chairperson and members of the National Commission on Human Rights (NCHR), being set up for the first time in the country, has decided to interview all the candidates next week.

The four-member committee, headed by PML-F’s Senator Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, will meet here on Sept 29 and 30 and all the candidates have been asked to appear before it.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, after consulting Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Ahmed Shah, had sent the names of retired Justice Ali Nawaz Chowhan, retired Justice Mehta Kelashnath Kohli and Rehana Bibi Khilji, a civil society member, to the committee to select one of them as the NCHR chairperson.

The committee had also been provided a list of candidates for appointment as members of the commission — one from each province, Islamabad, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and religious minorities.

The committee, in its last meeting held in July, deferred consideration of the names after it found the list to be incomplete because there were no names for Islamabad, Fata and Balochistan.

Talking to Dawn, the committee’s chairman said it had decided to interview the candidates because the government had only submitted their curriculum vitae (CVs), containing very little information about them and their background.

“We want them to tell us about their contribution in the field of human rights,” Mr Muzaffar Shah said.

He said the NCHR would have vast powers of holding investigations and trials, so the committee wanted to appoint the most competent persons to run it.

The committee is required to select one member from three nominees for each of the provinces, Islamabad, Fata and minorities.

Nominations for appointment as members have been received on behalf of Riaz Fatiana, Kishwar Shaheen Awan and Shaigan Sharif Malik from Punjab; Anees Haroon, Aneesa Sattar Silat and Fareeha Abbas from Sindh; Rahatullah, Muhammad Akmal and Dr Yahya Ahmed from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pandit Channa Lal, Dr Araish and Ishaq Masih from the minorities.

The law for creation of the state-funded but independent NCHR was passed by parliament on May 4, 2012 after discussions at the committees’ level for almost three years.

The bill was tabled in the National Assembly in December 2008, two months after its approval by the federal cabinet, by the then minister for human rights Mumtaz Alam Gilani.

The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Human Rights, headed by Mr Fatiana of the PML-Q, approved the draft with major amendments in August 2011.

The law empowers the government to appoint the NCHR members after a public notice to invite suggestions, consultations between the prime minister and the leader of opposition in the National Assembly and approval by the bipartisan parliamentary committee before a presidential confirmation.

The NCHR will comprise a chairperson who has been or is qualified to be a judge of the Supreme Court, or has “demonstrable knowledge of, or practical experience in matters relating to human rights”, one member each from the provinces, Fata and Islamabad with demonstrable knowledge of, or experience in, matters relating to human rights, the chairperson of the National Commis­sion on the Status of Women, one member from the minority communities and a secretary to be appointed by the commission.

Its functions will include inquiring into violations of human rights or abetment at its own initiative or on a complaint, intervening in court proceedings on allegations of violation by seeking to become a party in cases, visiting jails or other places of detention, reviewing factors, including acts of terrorism, that inhibit enjoyment of human rights, spreading human rights literacy, submitting independent reports to the government on the state of human rights and developing a “national plan of action for the promotion and protection of human rights”.

Every citizen will have the right to register a complaint with it against any individual or institution. The commission will have all the powers of a civil court and may summon any individual, and public or private department. It may seek assistance of any agency, police or any other official or organisation of the government.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd , 2014