MULTAN, May 15: Karachi should be freed from the clutches of fascist elements through a collective struggle.

Asma Jahangir said this while presiding over a seminar titled ”Basic human rights standards and justice system” organised by the Special Task Force of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) here on Tuesday.

Ms Jahangir stressed women’s participation in every sphere of society, saying that without ensuring it the concepts like democracy and human rights were meaningless.

She urged the bar associations to uphold the basic principles of human rights for ensuring an independent judiciary.

She said those in power were wrong if they were thinking that they could divide the lawyer community.

Rashid Rehman said on the occasion that there was a need to evaluate the justice system in the backdrop of international human right standards. According to these standards, he said, the basic rights of a plaintiff were recognised, which included the right to living with honour and dignity, right to impartial hearing by independent judiciary and protection against illegal acts.

He said it was an admitted legal principle that the accused was considered innocent until proven guilty but in Pakistan it was grossly violated. There was a need that every citizen should play his or her role for the implementation of these principles.

Prof Salahuddin Haidar, Muhammad Hussain Khokhar, Babar Saicorno, Bushra Naqvi, Bismillah Eram, Amjad Pervaiz and Naseem Akhtar also spoke on the occasion.

TEACHERS: Muttahida Asatiza Mahaz Pakistan organized a demonstration here on Tuesday seeking solution to teachers’ problems.

The representatives of Punjab Government School Senior Staff Association, Punjab Association of Subject Specialists, Punjab Teachers Union and Muslim Teachers Federation demanded an end to monitoring of educational institutes by retired army men.

They said that if the government could provide vehicles to the staff of education department, they could show better results as compared to these monitoring teams.

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