Association of Women for Awareness and Motivation organized a training workshop on 'Community Education for Democracy and Human Rights' in at Catholic Church Community Hall Jhumra, Faisalabad

Faisalabad, Pakistan: May 13, 2010, (PCTV Newsdesk)


On 8th May 2010, AWAM (Association of Women for Awareness and Motivation) organized a training workshop titled “Community Education for Democracy and Human Rights” in collaboration with TFD (Taiwan Foundation for Democracy), which was joined by 37 Muslim and Christian participants from different schools of thought. Nazia Sardar (Chairperson-AWAM), Shazia George (Coordinator-AWAM), Suneel Malik (Secretary-NCJP), Zafar Iqbal and Asif Gill  (Director-SOLID) were among the resource persons of the workshop held at Catholic Church Community Hall, Sub-District Jhumra in Faisalabad District.

The resource persons said, “Democracy is the best form of governance; that is why, majority of nations of the world believes that it is the only political system in which there is a greater possibility for the citizens to enjoy human rights regardless of any discrimination, and democracy can only guarantee peace, justice, human rights and progress”. “The vital purpose of democracy is to ensure:  easy access to justice, betterment in the living standard, provision of equal opportunities and representation, protection of life and property, provision of basic freedoms and needs, for the citizens,” they added. “The prime responsibility of the democratic government is to frame such laws, polities and institutions, by which: peace and social harmony could be established; violence and crime from the society could be prevented; poverty and ignorance could be eliminated; poor citizens could demand their rights from the powerful citizens without any fear,” they added.  

    They said, “The economic sustainability is imperative for the stability of political system in Pakistan, therefore women should be included in the mainstream of progress by giving them due share in social and economic fields”. “The civil society should launch a larger campaign for the political awareness at grassroots so that people could select that candidate as a political leader in elections who could prefer progress of nation and country over his own benefits and interests,” they added.

The resource persons for the enforcement of real democracy demanded from the government that: all the laws curbing the basic human rights as enshrined in the constitution should be repealed; state affairs must be separated from the religion in order to promote religious tolerance; political parties should held elections within their organizations for the promotion of democratic culture; women should be empowered by giving representation in every sphere of life in accordance with their proportion in of population; all the citizens should be acknowledged as equal by eliminating the difference of ruler and public, and they must be provided with equal opportunities and resources irrespective of any discrimination.

Report By: Shazia George