Lahore: September 22, 2012. (PCP) The participants and resource persons of the Participatory Course on Democracy and Human Rights on the 3rd day has resolved that Religious extremism and intolerance is a huge threat to democracy in Pakistan, and therefore concrete measures should be taken to save democracy and ensure a peaceful co-existence. Speaking to the human rights defenders and students gathered in Lahore for CHRE’s 3rd Annual Course Mr. Salman Abid, Regional Director of SPO said “that politics of power has lead the country to a the political crisis in the country. Democracy cannot be strengthened unless the institutions including Parliament, Executive, Judiciary and Media respect and exercise their roles and responsibilities defined in the constitution. Continuation of democratic system which delivers good governance is very fundamental to deal with the crisis in the country”, he added. Mr. Salman Abid quoted examples from different counties to explain the importance of local government system in a democratic society and demanded that in Pakistan the policy of decentralization should be ensured to ensure that the benefits of democracy reaches to the citizens of Pakistan without any discrimination. Mr. Liaqat Ali Advocate, President of Legal Awareness Watch while talking about religious discrimination and violence in the name of religion said that state’s policy of appeasement of the religious extremists is worsening the situation and the religious minorities and other weaker segments of the society are living in an environment of fear and threat. The political parties and other stake- holders should make a very clear policy to weed out religious extremism from the society and should withdraw the policy of appeasement of the elements who promote religious intolerance and hatred. He further added that it is very unfortunate that the Law enforcement agencies do not pay attention towards the issues of religious minorities; instead they turn a blind eye towards their issues which directly or indirectly is a support to religious extremists. Professor Hafeez Kumbhar from Hyderabad exposed participants to the concepts of democracy, and its principles. Equality, non-discrimination, rule of law and inclusion are the fundamental principles of a democratic society, however it is very unfortunate that these principles are hardly followed upon in the Pakistani society. Third Participatory Course on Democracy and Human Rights (PCDHR) began in Lahore on the 20th September under the auspices of the Centre for Human Rights Education, a human rights institution working to strengthen human rights activism to build a human rights and democratic culture. The course is being participated by human rights defenders, university students, representatives of political parties, members of religious minorities from different parts of the country