LAHORE, Dec 10: The speakers at a seminar held to mark the Human Rights Day here on Tuesday urged all sections of society to play their role in protecting rights and move beyond mere sloganeering in this regard.

Former law minister Dr Khalid Ranjha said violations of human rights started with the emergence of humans on the planet. For this reason, the Holy Prophet mentioned human rights in his last sermon. The United Nations had also issued a universal charter of human rights in 1948, he added.

He regretted that Muslims had been treating minorities the way they were treated by the Hindu majority in pre-partition era. The biases based on colour, creed and religion became root cause of human rights violations. The role of society was more important than that of the state in containing the menace of human rights violations, he maintained.

He said the problem had been identified since long and the focus from now on should be on pragmatism. He claimed to have already initiated efforts for establishment of HR courts but the area of jurisdiction could not be specified as all the fundamental rights fell under HR for which legal cover and infrastructure was always there.

Syed Afzal Haider, a member of the Islamic Ideology Council and federal law commission, said the world was reverting to the days of suicides, insecurity and dark age.

No society could progress without guaranteeing human rights, he added.

Describing the difference between the policy makers and thinkers, he said the freedom of life and property and the religion were provided to the citizen in every civilization and also in the constitution of Pakistan.

He claimed that capitalism, feudalism and rigidity were the main causes for violation of human rights and expressed his concern that the people were not feeling safe even in this modern day Pakistan.

Former provincial law minister Rana Ijaz Ahmad Khan blamed the big powers of the world for violating human right on the pretext of protecting them. He said the UN also had double standards and the actions against Iraq and Afghanistan were a proof of it.

He said the balance of power and the situation of human rights was not satisfactory in any part of the world. He said due to media, education and awareness was increasing.

He called for an end to discriminatory policies to achieve positive results.

The seminar was organized by federal ministry for law, justice and human rights and the technical and academic support for it was provided by the Quaid-i-Azam Law College.

Provincial HR commission member Brig Yasoob Dogar (retired), Shamim Alexander Malik, Quaid-i-Azam Law College principal Nafeer A. Malik and federal ministry of human rights regional director Iftikhar Aziz Ghazali also spoke on the occasion.