Govt making all out efforts to promote human rights: Burney
By Saad Saud

ISLAMABAD—Caretaker Minister for Human Rights, Ansar Burney, has said the government was making all out efforts for promotion of human rights in the country. Talking to newsmen, he said that like other parts of the world International Human Rights Day is being celebrated in Pakistan also. He said that the best way to promote human rights is to share the problems and difficulties of each other in society.
He said the requirements of International Human Rights Day are in conformity with Islam that teaches deep respect for the rights of all human beings and enjoins the eternal values of equality, social justice and peace.
Ansar Burney lauded President Pervez Musharraf for establishing a separate Human Rights Ministry to safeguard the human rights.
The first priority of ministry of human rights is to improve the condition of jails, solve the problem of environmental pollution and facilitate provision of pure drinking water to every person, he added. Pakistan government is in the process of creating an institutional machinery to ensure promotion and protection of human rights in the country, he said. The most important of such institutions will be National Commission for Human Rights, which will be an independent body, free of all prejudices and encumbrances, he said.
He said that emergency will be lifted on December 15, and the country will march on the road to progress and prosperity. Ansar Burney said, free, fair and impartial election was the first and foremost responsibility of caretaker government. Most of the ministers of this government were non political workers of the society.
He urged the political parties to participate fully in the election process, as it would strengthen democratic system in the country. “I personally request all the political parties that they must participate in the elections and strengthen democracy,” he added.