TIMERGARA, Nov 6:  Speakers at a seminar here on Tuesday said that basic human rights were being violated in the region owing to growing militancy and extremism.

The seminar titled ‘Promoting humanitarian values and human rights in the fight against extremism’ was organised by local chapter of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) that was attended by teachers, students, lawyers, businessmen and members of minorities. HRCP representatives Hafeez Buzdar, Hayatullah Khan Yousafzai, Akbar Khan and journalist Haleem Asad performed as resource persons on the occasion.

Different topics including role of media in promoting and curbing extremism, human rights violation and state responsibility, literature and international human rights conventions were discussed in the seminar.

The speakers said that extremism was spreading like cancer in every nook and corner of the region. “Bombs are destroying peace and order of the society,” they said, adding that militants destroyed the symbols of culture and civilisation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata.

The speakers alleged that state institutions were doing nothing to control violation of basic human rights in the region. They also blamed some sections of media for fanning the fire instead of discouraging violent acts. “Pakistan has been declared the most dangerous country for media workers throughout the world and it is difficult for journalists to file balanced stories from a violence-hit area,” they said.

The speakers said that several journalists had been killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata during the ongoing war against terrorism.

They said the situation in the restive tribal areas was not favourable for working journalists. Most of the tribal journalists were filing stories from other areas as they had left their native towns, they added.

The speakers appealed to media organisations to play positive role in curbing militancy and extremism. They said that media should promote tolerance in society. They also demanded recognition of human rights in restive areas of Pakistan and said that all state actors should accept human rights declared in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).