Pakistan plans a human rights court in every district

The Pakistan People’s Party plans to extend legal support to protection of human rights to the grassroots by reaching out to all the country’s 111 districts, a top official said here Saturday.

The Ministry of Human Rights will try to set up human rights courts in every district to tackle issues related to human rights, new Federal Minister for Human Rights Mumtaz Gillani said. The ministry has been made independent through bifurcating the Ministry of Law, Justice and Human Rights.

“The directorates of the ministry will also be formed at district and divisional levels. Earlier, more focus was laid on legal and constitutional issues and the human rights issues were ignored. The bifurcation idea was floated by the caretaker government and a human rights division was also formed for this purpose,” the minister informed.

At the time, Ansar Burney held the portfolio of the Human Rights minister and Zahid Hamid was the law and justice minister. Currently, four directorates of human rights are working in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta.

Gillani said, “The directorates will help tackle the human rights issues in a better way. The ministry will collaborate with the human rights and non-governmental organisations. Committees comprising human rights activists, lawyers and journalists will monitor the human rights issues and give recommendations.”