KARACHI
“The poor state of human rights in the country calls for the adoption of a National Charter of Human Rights on the lines of Charter of Democracy”, said former President, Asif Ali Zardari in a message on the international human rights day on Saturday.
“Human rights are indivisible, universal and their frontiers are constantly expanding”; there was a need for political parties to agree on some minimum standards that must be achieved within a specified time frame”, he said.
Peace and democracy will elude us as long as there are no human rights because they are all intertwined, he said. We also need an environment of freedom and liberalism to promote these values the former President said in his message.
Apart from guaranteeing the most fundamental right to life, liberty and security the minimum agreed charter should also guarantee the four basic freedoms: namely freedom of expression, freedom of information, right to assembly and the right to free association, he said. It is a sad thought that on the eve of this year’s human rights day, the right to information remained spurned by the absence of RTI (Right to Information) legislation at the federal level.
The right to life was threatened by enforced disappearances and extra judicial killings, he said.
