NCHR to work for prevention of HR violations: Burney
By Adnan Rafique

ISLAMABAD—Caretaker Minister for Human Rights Ansar Burney on Thursday said that National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) will work for the promotion of human rights and help prevent violations.
He informed US ambassador Anne W. Patterson here who called on him.
Both discussed matters relating to human rights with special focus on prisoners, human trafficking, slavery, minorities, women and child rights. The minister said “It will have independent members, having no political affiliations with profound knowledge of the issues and they would be mandated to use all possible means to curb human rights violation from the society.”
He said the Commission will have actual powers of punishment, including suspending government and law enforcement officials.
“It would visit the places of detention where it believes human rights violations occur and order the release and rehabilitation of victims,” he added.
US ambassador showed great interest in the establishment of National Commission and expressed the hope that it would be a step forward.
They discussed the steps taken by the ministry for the release of those prisoners who were languishing in the jails as their appeals were pending for long periods.
The Caretaker Minister told him that government was taking concrete measures to eliminate the scourge of human trafficking forever. They discussed the human trafficking issue under the guise of culture tours or for jobs and the ways to halt them.
Ansar said that human rights issues are of utmost importance for every government of the world. “It is the basic right of an individual to have access to justice, security, health facility, education and all other rights embodied in the UN charter,” he added. The minister apprised the US ambassador about his visits to jails in the country and the directives for the improvement of conditions there. He said a number of concrete steps are being taken to tackle human rights issues besides, launching a vigorous mass awareness campaign. He said it is for the first time in the history of Pakistan that effective mechanism of international standards is being adopted to address human rights issues.
He informed that certain issues like human trafficking, child abuses and plight of prisoners languishing in jails for long time were also given top priority.