ISLAMABAD, Dec 10: Pakistan is signatory to 19 international laws related to protection of human rights, but there is a need to implement them in letter and spirit.

This was stated by eminent jurist and ruling PML senator, S. M. Zafar, while speaking at a seminar organized by his party as part of World Human Rights Day celebrations on Friday.

He said though the PML government had taken landmark decisions about human rights, many more steps still required to be taken. He said in the present world the law of 'might is right' had emerged more prominently, and "we have to review our attitude towards human rights accordingly".

Mr Zafar said in the post-9/11 scenario many faces had been exposed, and "we had to lay a chain of human rights activism in the world". There should be a human rights power to combat the might of the superpower of the world, he suggested.

PML Secretary General Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed claimed that women members of the ruling party had been given equal representation, and soon a human rights wing would be constituted in the party.

PML secretary of information and Minister of State for Labour, Senator Tariq Azeem, said Islam is the first religion in history to have given a human rights charter 1400 years ago, and Islam is the only religion which teaches equality among humans.

He mentioned the example of the second Caliph, Hazrat Umar (RA), who had afforded his servant to ride the horse half of the distance from Makkah to Palestine. Senator Azeem claimed that the human right situation in the country was far better than it was in several developed countries. He dismissed the propaganda about child labour in Pakistan.