PPP never exacted revenge on opponents: Taseer

LAHORE - Governor Punjab Salman Taseer has said that the credit for developing the culture of consensus in the country goes to the PPP, which never exacted revenge on its opponents. He said that some people wanted to shatter the democratic set-up and were talking about national government ignoring the fact that the present set-up was also a national one. Speaking at a seminar titled 'Democracy, Civil Society and Human Rights organised by the Ministry of Human Rights at Alhamra on Thursday, Taseer said that there was a need to develop the culture of awareness and self-responsibility to save the rights of others. He said that the history of PPP is the history of struggle, and President Asif Ali Zardari was the first, who returned the powers back to the Parliament. He recalled that it was the vision of late PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto that 'democracy is the best revenge. He said that the biggest threat to the country was religious extremism and added that it was important for one to be a good human being before declaring oneself a Muslim or Pakistani. Presiding over the seminar, Human Rights Minister Syed Mumtaz Gilani said that first priority of the government was to provide justice and save human rights in the country. He informed that regional offices of the Department at division and district level would be set up within three months. He said that the PPP was the party of laymen and labourers, which was committed to give rights to the deprived sections of the society. He further said that to sustain balance in rights and duties, there was a need of friendly atmosphere, but, regretted that intolerance prevailed in the society due to lack of education. Ministry of Human Rights Secretary Justice (r) Riaz Kiyani, Altaf Qureshi, Rafi Raza Kharal, Abdul Rab Farooqi, Saleemul Raza Mayo, MPA Sajida Mir and renowned poet Aslam Gurdaspuri also spoke on the occasion. President PPP Lahore Ch Asghar Gujjar, Provincial Minister for Labour Mohammad Ashraf Sohna and MPA Faiza Malik were also present.