A people's discourse.

Byline: I.A. Rehman

THE two-day Asma Jahangir Conference last Saturday and Sunday quite unobtrusively developed into a people's assembly. Each of the scores of speakers offered a few words by way of tribute to Asma Jahangir and then started telling the audience what is wrong with Pakistan, who is responsible for it and how it can be corrected.

The spirit of proceedings, a conscious effort to look at the broader picture and avoid airing personal/group grievances, could be felt during the concluding session. It was good to hear the PTI representative, Munazza Hasan, talking of women's empowerment as a political imperative. Maryam Aurangzeb called for a second charter of democracy, paid tribute to Benazir Bhutto and referred to Nawaz Sharif's tribulation only in passing. Yousuf Raza Gilani of the PPP recalled what he did as prime minister and lamented the present government's reliance on bad laws to suppress the opposition. He only referred to Asif Ali Zardari's efforts to strengthen parliament by shedding some of the president's powers and avoided mentioning the cases against him.

The leaders of the mainstream parties displayed politicians' capacity to accept criticism. They sat quietly when Munizae Jahangir stated that Pakistan's politicians forget human rights when they are in power and discover them only when they are out of office. They sat as silently as they had done earlier when reminded that the fetters on their legs had been forged by themselves.

Pakistan's politicians forget human rights when they are in power and discover them only when they are out of office.

The conference confirmed the fact that a good number of politicians, experts in various disciplines, social activists and human rights defenders had been looking for a forum to vent their feelings. They jumped on the platform offered by Asma Jahangir Foundation, AGHS and the Pakistan Bar Council as it promised to meet their expectations. Further, they found the environment free from the fear that has robbed them of their ability to speak and conditioned them to suffer all kinds of indignities and oppression without protest. And the agenda was broad enough to allow an exchange of views on a variety of themes that are affecting the people's lives and threaten the lives of the coming generations.

After the honourable judges of superior courts, judges and lawyers from Britain and Ireland and the leaders of the diplomatic corps the Netherlands had specially sent their human rights...