Human rights must be central to diplomacy

Planning minister says basic rights of all citizens must be protected

ISLAMABAD: With India violating the basic human rights of millions of Muslims in the disputed Himalayan territory of Jammu and Kashmir, a federal minister on Monday suggested that human rights must be central to all diplomacy of the country.

"I believe that while formulating our diplomatic strategies, the issue of human rights must be a central pillar," said Federal Planning Minister Asad Umar on Monday while addressing a seminar on human rights at the Federal Human Rights Ministry.

Umar said that gross human rights' violations have been committed in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IoK) at the hands of the occupying forces.

The 122-day curfew in IoK, he said, should be resolved on humanitarian grounds.

He added that people of any area, irrespective of caste, creed or religion cannot be pressed through a curfew or other such cruel activities.

In Pakistan, Umar said, there was a dire need to highlight human rights' issue to protect the rights of every human being in the country.

"It is our moral duty and obligation to stand up for the protection of rights of every human being," he said, noting that Pakistan's Constitution and religion, both call for protecting human rights. He further said that the incumbent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was attempting to empower the impoverished segments of society by prioritising their problems.

Human rights films

Journalists, through their reporting, help ensure the ‘right to information’ of everyone else.

This was stated by UNESCO Representative for Pakistan Vibeke Jensen on Monday after the screening of the documentary, “City of Ghosts” by Matthew Heinemen on the lives of a handful of citizen journalists and media activists in Syria who had risked their lives to make sure that the world knew what was going on there.

The film was screened at Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services (PIPS) as part of the European Union-sponsored Human Rights Reel Film Festival. The ten-day film festival was organised in connection with World Human Rights Day which is observed on December 10 and the 16 Days of Activism against Violence against Women in partnership with the United Nations and 16 EU and UN member states.

Jensen said that the public will not be aware of critical developments around the world if journalists could not do their jobs freely hence their protection is essential.

“When journalists and media professionals use their right to express themselves freely, they are also contributing to yours and my ‘right to information’ ,” she explained

Parliamentarians Commission for Human Rights (PCHR) Executive Director Chaudhary Shafique said that “it is important for democratic societies to ensure freedom of expression and protection of journalists.”  

Published in The Express Tribune, December 10^th, 2019.