Political Parties Must Act Decisively To Eliminate Militancy, Terrorism: Experts

 News Desk

Peshawar: Speakers at a seminar emphasised that political parties need to focus on making serious efforts to implement national action plan, take stern actions to curb the terrorism and extremism, and introduce measures to address outstanding human rights issues.

The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) organized a seminar titled “Protection and Rights of Citizens: Political Consensus”.

A report by the CSJ titled “Promises to Keep & Miles to Go” was released at this point and it examined the pledges, actions and performance of political parties in the government and opposition with regard to minorities’ rights during the course of the last three parliamentary tenures.

The study found that PTI fulfilled none out of five promises made in election manifesto 2018, though it made partial progress on two promises. Pakistan Muslim League-N failed to materialize nine out of ten promises and PPP partially implemented one out of eight promises.

CSJ Executive Director Peter Jacob said that CSJ shares the grief of families and the entire nation affected by the attack on police lines in Peshawar a week ago. The civil society of Pakistan supports the national resolve against extremism and militancy.

We are convinced that the success of the fight against extremism will be heavily dependent on changes in the policy paradigm aimed at equalising rights and eliminating discrimination based on religion or belief, particularly the impunity afforded to preachers of hatred and intolerance.

Former MNA Bushra Gohar stated that the political parties have failed to address human rights abuses, and they comprise on their mandates and political will due to the pressure exerted by religious groups, which results in making them use religion in their narrative and policy actions for political point scoring.

She added that textbooks of different subjects, including English and Urdu, carry religious content that leads to dividing citizens on religious and sectarian lines, and developing a typical worldview amongst students, which should be contained to implement Article 22(1) of the constitution of Pakistan.

Former Education Minister Sardar Hussain Babak said that there are curbs on freedom of expression, thought, conscience, and religion in Pakistan. The powerful state institutions tend to challenges the supremacy of constitution and parliament which makes the democratic institutions weak and marginalized.

PPP Senior Vice President Syed Ayub Shah stated, “The constitution guarantees protection of human rights; therefore, political parties must make efforts to address human rights violations, curb acts of intolerance and extremism, and introduce policies and strategy to promote social cohesion and peaceful coexistence.”

Shahid Mehmood added that the government should make efforts to ensure equality of rights for all citizens without any discrimination, and steps should be taken to ensure a fair distribution of resources, eliminate corruption, and ensure the safety of citizens’ lives and property.