Faisalabad: August 19, 2010. (PCP) On 15th August 2010, Association of Women for Awareness and Motivation (AWAM) organized a follow-up training of trainers titled “Community Education for Democracy and Human Rights” in collaboration with Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD), which was joined by 33 Muslim and Christian participants from different tehsils of Faisalabad District. Naseem Anthony (Executive Secretary-AWAM), Nazia Sardar, Suneel Malik (Secretary-NCJP), Shazia George (Coordinator-AWAM), Zafar Iqbal and Asif Mehmood were among the facilitators of the workshop, held at Caritas office in Faisalabad. Naseem Anthony said, “Democracy is the system of governance which guarantees public participation in political process, but poor people are deprived of their rights and leadership from working class is discouraged due to the power and resources in the hands of influential people, therefore it is imperative for government to ensure rule of law, system based on transparency and free of corruption, and equal distribution of resources in order to drive the country on democratic lines.” Suneel Malik said, “According to standards of democracy, it is the responsibility of democratic state to ensure equality, justice, peace, tolerance, protection of human rights, and promotion of culture of consultation, difference of opinion and accountability, but there is non-availability of democratic standards in Pakistan despite democratic government in Pakistan.” Shazia George said, “Equal participation of men and women in the decision making process is the first condition for enforcement of real democracy in Pakistan.” “It is pity that no one representing women and religious minorities was involved in the committee for reforms in the constitution of Pakistan, that is why there are still discriminatory provisions in the constitution and discriminatory laws,” she added. The participants for the stability of the democratic system in Pakistan demanded from the government that: rehabilitation of floods affected people must be the top priority, and funds collected in favour of flood affected people should be properly monitored in order to prevent corruption; all political parties avoiding their personal or policy differences should adopt policy of consultation among them on every issue of Pakistan in the supreme interest of the country; appropriate measures must be taken to remove social, cultural, religious, legal and political barriers in the way of women’s progress; government must avoid confrontation with media and judiciary considering them key components of democracy; all the laws against religious minorities and women, curbing the basic human rights as enshrined in the constitution must be amended; all the citizens must be acknowledged as equal by elimination of class division between ruler and public, and they must be provided with equal opportunities and resources irrespective of any discrimination