LAHORE, Feb 19: Chief Justice of India Visheshwarnath Khare has said that the three-day Saarc Law Conference in Karachi will be an attempt to create mutual goodwill and develop a level of a common legal understanding in the region.

Justice Khare told reporters at Wagah on Thursday that the examination and amendments to laws on trade, commerce and intellectual property rights, among others, for the benefit of the people of south Asia were some prominent features of the conference beginning on Friday (today).

The Indian chief justice, accompanied by a senior judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Ramsesh Chandra Lahoti, after an overnight stay in Lahore, will proceed to Karachi to attend the conference. They were received at the border by Chief Justice Iftikhar Husain Chaudhry of the Lahore High Court, advocate-general Syed Shabbar Raza Razvi and high court registrar Dost Mohammad Malik.

Replying to a question, Justice Khare said the Karachi conference would debate the issue of management of courts and speedy trial in addition to addressing other legal matters in the region.

He said minorities in India were fully safe and the judiciary was serving as a watchdog to ensure their protection. More and more people were approaching courts on the issues of fundamental human rights with the rise in their awareness about their rights. "The judiciary promptly acts to redress the grievances of the aggrieved," he added.

Though no agenda has been set for the conference, it was aimed at developing a level of common legal understanding in the region. This is the seventh law conference on the Saarc forum and the third in Pakistan.

The objective of the conferences is to harmonise laws in the region and bring about the existing laws in conformity with the regional requirements.