Inter University Consortium for Promotion of Social Sciences (IUCPSS) and Centre for Civic Education (CCE) Pakistan will jointly arrange a two-day “National Conference on State of Fundamental Rights in Pakistan” from September 15. The conference would be attended by the vice chancellors of universities, Higher Education Commission (HEC) officials, academicians and civil society representatives.
National Endowment for Democracy (NED) had also extended its support for organizing this conference.
IA Rehman would be the key note speaker of the inaugural session of the conference titled “Culture of Fundamental Rights in Pakistan” on September 15.
While HEC Executive Director Prof. Dr. S. Sohail H. Naqvi would be the guest of honor on the occassion.
The session would include the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the CCE-Pakistan and IUCPSS and the launching of report titled “State of Fundamental Rights in Pakistan”.
The annual awards including the Civic Courage Award and the Civic Education Award would be presented to Malala Yousafzai and Baacha Khan Trust Educational Foundation respectively.
National Committee on Development of Social Sciences HEC Chairperson /Vice Chancellor of the University of Gujrat, Prof. Dr. Mohammad Nizamuddin would chair the first session titled “Promoting Culture of Research and Teaching on Fundamental Rights” on the second day of the conference.
Jinnah Women University (FJWU) Department of Gender Studies lecturer Fatima Adeela Rehman would speak on “Democracy Secured the State of Fundamental Human Rights” and a FAST-NU Lahore lecturer Raza Naeem would speak on the topic “Reading Rousseau’s `Social Contract’ in Dangerous Times: Lessons from the Arab Spring and the Future of Rights in Pakistan”.
IUCPSS Chairperson/ Vice Chancellor of the Islamia University Bahawalpur Prof. Dr Muhammad Mukhtar would chair the second session of the conference.
A research student Muhammad Nawaz Tunio of Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET), Jamshoro would speak on the topic titled “Decline of new generation under the impact of honor killing in remote areas of Pakistan”.
Shahinshah Babar Khan from Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission Model College, Islamabad and Shaheen Ashraf Tahirkheli from Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) would address the participants on the “Challenges to promotion of the fundamental right to education in Pakistan”.
Zaira Irfan Cheema from Department of Government and Public Policy, National Defence University would highlight the topic “Fundamental Rights of Senior Citizens: A Policy Planning Perspective”.
The third concluding session would be chaired by Prof. Dr. Syed Khawaja Alqama from Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan and would include a presentation on the topic “State of Fundamental Rights in Pakistan and the Role of Media” by Government College University’s (GCU) Faisalabad, Department of Mass Communication Assistant Professor Irem Sultana.
A PhD student from University of Karachi named Zamiza Azmat would brief the session on “Access to Information: Right to Know-A Key to Democracy and Development” while Shahid Waseem from IQRA University, Islamabad would speak on the topic “Media and Democracy in Pakistan: Historical Commentary and Critique on State-Media Relations Linkage with Fundamental Rights in Pakistan”.
