LAHORE: (Saturday, December 11, 2021): Punjab Minister for Human Rights and Minority Affairs Mr Ejaz Alam Augustine said that there was a need to promote ethical and religious values to strengthen our society in order to ensure equality and provide human rights to all. He was addressing a webinar on “Equality and Inclusion” organized by Punjab University Human Rights Chair here on Saturday. PU VC Prof Niaz Ahmad, Chairperson Department of Public Relations & Advertising and Human Rights Chair Prof Dr Abida Ashraf, Assistant Prof Government College University Lahore Dr Kalyan Singh Kalyan, Director Digital Rights Foundation Ms Nighat Daad, Founding Member and Chairperson Gender Equality and Diversity Committee Ms Nida Usman, fculty members and students participated in the webinar. Addressing the webinar, the minister said that the incidents of violence on women and children were bad examples of human rights violations and we needed to curb it. He said that through establishment of special desks at police stations and human rights portal, the incidents of domestic violence have reduced. He said that without promotion of the culture of tolerance, it was impossible to improve the human rights situation in any society.
Prof Dr Abida Ashraf said that the Afghans made the biggest migration ever and Pakistan gave refuge to 4 million Afghans with open arms. She said that at present, 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees were living in Pakistan. She said that Pakistan had provided a congenial environment to all minorities. She said that we can learn the lesson of equality from the life of Hazrat Muhammad SAWW. She said that a good society must adopt the character of Mr Adnan, who tried to save the life of the Sri Lankan manager. Dr Kalyan Singh said that Islam had taught to treat all living beings with civility. He called upon the need for introduction and implementation of relevant family laws to avoid problems being faced by the women of minorities. He appreciated the role of PU VC Prof Niaz Ahmad and Prof Dr Abida Ashraf for creating awareness about human rights. Nighat Daad said that in this digital age, access to information had become a basic right of the people and efforts were being made to provide internet at village level. Nida Usman sought participation of women at every level.