Democratic battles: Debating democracy in Pakistan

225 attend seminar on how best to promote democracy.


Express September 19, 2011

FAISALABAD: A seminar on the theme, Democratic Culture in Pakistan: practices and prospects, was organised by the Association of Women for Awareness and Motivation (AWAM) in collaboration with Peace and Human Development (PHD) Foundation, Centre for Human Rights Education (CHRE) and Development Organisation for Social Transformation (DOST) held at Barkat Pura on Monday.

Speakers at the seminar said that the government should take concrete steps to fully promote building a culture of democracy in Pakistan by enforcing democratic norms at the family, organisation, department and political party level. A total of 225 men and women from different communities participated in the seminar, including AWAM executive secretary Naseem Anthony, Nazia Sardar, ASDP director Amina Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmad, Workers Party member Arif Ayaz, M Irfan of NSF, Samina Waheed and Amna Ehsan. The motive behind organising the seminar was to raise awareness regarding the importance of the right to vote and to motivate the participants to play their role in building a culture of democracy in Pakistan.

Anthony said, “The ultimate goal of democracy is to uplift the living standard of people through sovereign and responsible government. The prime obligations of a democratic government include providing equal opportunities and nurturing human rights irrespective of any discrimination. We need to frame people-friendly policies and laws because the respect and defence of human rights is imperative if we are to build a peaceful and democratic society.”

Sardar said discrimination and prejudice exists among people of Pakistan on the basis of faith, sex, ethnicity, language and caste, which makes the promotion and implementation of democratic values and principles in families, institutes and political parties extremely important.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20th,  2011.

COMMENTS (1)

Sidra Zafar | 12 years ago | Reply

It is indeed in the best interest of the country that democracy be strengthened to ensure national progress, and voters are not compelled to cast their votes under fear. It can be done by offering a well considered programme of economic and social development. The methods of protest must be peaceful. All countries and their political parties in the civilised world have developed methods of protest without violence. If Mian Nawaz Sharif is to be believed then he should plan to provide leadership in such directions without seeking support from ‘banned’ outfits. On the other hand, the government of the time must also have the sensitivity to act and respond to the people’s problems before the masses lose patience. This is the way of democracy and our political parties, specially PML-N needs to recognise peaceful endeavours reflecting public needs. This could cement democracy and take the country forward.

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ