Training held on ‘Humanity, Altruism and Citizenship in Pakistan’

Justice Nasra says laws are a major tool in protecting human rights

LAHORE: There is a dire need to educate masses about human rights with an aim to promote peace and tolerance in the society. Ziaul Ranjha, a lawyer by profession, said this while addressing the training on ‘Humanity, Altruism and Citizenship in Pakistan’ held at Government College University (GCU) the other day.

He said that ‘human rights’ must be made a part of the syllabus for creating awareness among people about it and that all stakeholders must be engaged effectively for this purpose.

Speaking on the occasion GCU Vice Chancellor (VC) Professor Dr Hassan Amir Shah, he said that such training sessions help to develop proper understanding about different subjects and motivate the participants to work in a better way to achieve good results. At the end of the second day of the training, he also distributed certificates among the participants

The main speaker during the first day of the training was Justice (retd) Nasira Javed Iqbal, who while addressing the training said that laws were a major tool in promoting and protecting human rights as they play a vital role in the well-being of the society. She also emphasised that a critical understanding of education was important to handle things in a mature manner.

Political Analyst and Public Policy Advisor Salman Abid speaking on conflict management and youth engagement for social cohesion said that there was a need to understand the diversity of youth. Conflict management is about creating a win-win situation he said and added that states do face conflicts and issues as it is a natural phenomenon, but the focus should be to resolve those problems.

He further said that an enabling environment, which gives opportunities, was vital otherwise the problems would persist. He went on to add that a successful model of a state was all about “state versus public participation” and that there should be strong linkages between state, government and educational institutions.

Professor Dr Shahid Habib, while sharing his views on the role of faculty in conflict management, said that active participation of civil society was necessary besides holding debates to understand and address various issues. He also said that effective mechanism to promote human rights was missing. Research could play a major role to understand the root cause of different problems, he added.

Agha Baqir Hussain, speaking on career guidance and counselling of students said that character building was of high importance, adding that unfortunately, the role of academia in this regard was not effective enough. He added that character building of students helps in bringing positive change in the society.

Regional Human Rights Director Lubna Mansoor was also present on the occasion.