Faisalabad: September 18, 2010; (PCP) On 15th September 2010, Association of Women for Awareness and Motivation (AWAM) organized a seminar to commemorate international day of democracy on the theme “Culture of Democracy in Pakistan: Prospects and Challenges” in collaboration with Liaison for Enforcement of Human Rights (LEHR) and Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD), which was joined by 105 Muslim and Christian participants. Naseem Anthony (Executive Secretary-AWAM), Shazia George (Coordinator-AWAM), Suneel Malik (Executive Secretary-Peace and Human Development-PHD), Nazia Sardar (Chairperson-AWAM), Anjum James Paul (Director-Shadow), Mumtaz Nayamat and Nasreen Nelson were among the speakers of the seminar, held at Govt. Girls Elementary School, Chak # 462 Issanagri, Sub-district Samundri in Faisalabad District. Naseem Anthony said, “Democracy is the best form of governance which guarantees representation of all groups, allows difference of opinion and encourages legislatures to frame pro-people laws and policies.” “It is the need of the hour that all democratic forces must initiate consultation for dealing with the current crises and for the stability of democratic system; they must play their part for the elimination of feudal system and must unite against non-democratic forces,” he added. Shazia George said, “The key condition of democracy is to: give priority to humanity over other recognition of citizens, provide equal opportunities and human rights irrespective of any discrimination, because it is impossible to build democratic society without respect and defense of human rights.” Suneel Malik said, “There is discrimination and prejudice among people of Pakistan on the basis of creed, sex, colour, language and caste, therefore promotion of democratic values and principles on family, community, society, institutes, political parties and government level and negation of non-democratic traditions is pertinent for building culture of democracy in Pakistan.” Nazia Sardar said, “The ultimate purpose of the democracy is to uplift the living standard of people through sovereign and responsible government, but people are facing economic problems due to rising inflation in Pakistan for last two years, therefore government must impose tax on industrialists and must utilize that money in order to control inflation.” Anjum James Paul said, “Democracy is not the name of corruption, but it is the name of providing basic necessities and household items on cheap rates and ensuring access to justice for people.” “A country is called democratic where rulers frame laws and policies bearing in mind the will, needs and problems of people,” he added. The speakers for building democratic culture in Pakistan demanded that: government must make flood relief operation transparent and corruption free in order to restore the trust of Pakistanis and international community on the government of Pakistan; all political parties should avoid politics of criticism and should adopt policy of dialogue for the stability of democratic system; government must respect and ensure implementation of all verdicts of judiciary; appropriate steps must be taken in order to remove social, cultural, religious, legal and political barriers in the way of women’s empowerment; discrimination in the laws and constitution against women and religious minorities should be removed and class division must be eliminated by ensuring rule of law and supremacy of the constitution, in order to establish the culture of democracy in Pakistan.