Faisalabad: January 8, 2014. (PCP) The government must take decisive measures against anti-peace elements sowing and inciting panic, rifts and hatred on various grounds in the society for their vested interests, and put an end to the violence sparked by ethnicity, colour and creed. This was emphasized by the participations of the rally to mark world day of peace held at Faisalabad on December 31, 2013. Speaking on the occasion, the director of the PHD Foundation, Suneel Malik said, “The state must ensure the rule of law and writ of the government in Pakistan, and play its key role in protecting the rights of marginalized groups.” “The government must take strict action against those who take the law in their hands, propagate hatred and foment militancy and extremism through their words or actions. We must not allow anyone to make misleading actions in the name of religion or ideology,” he added. The director of the AWAM, Nazia Sardar said, “The criminal justice system must be strengthened through reforming the rules, procedures and police investigation, and sensitizing the legal enforcing agencies on dealing with cases of violence against women and girls.” “A helpline service providing referral facilities of legal aid and medical aid must be established at district police officer level, for women in distress, which must be interconnected to all the existing structures at the tehsil and union council levels for easy access of survivors of violence to effective prevention and response,” she demanded. A women’s rights activist, Shazia George said, “Domestic violence is continuously rising in Pakistan which is an alarming sign. The situation cannot be improved unless legislation is created and enforced to eliminate this menace. Therefore, severe punishment to the culprits involved in offences against women must be clearly mentioned and implemented.” A human rights activist, Naseem Anthony stressed the need to work together for shunning the differences by allowing and respecting other people’s rights to exercise their beliefs, and join hands for a peaceful society where every segment of society is coexisting, and hatred and intolerance is eliminated. “The discrimination on different grounds is the root cause of conflicts in Pakistan, which causes violence in the society, therefore, the educational curricula should be purged of all kinds of literature inciting hatred so that it promotes values of peace and respect for human rights,” he demanded. A social activist, Irshad Parkash said, “The government must take steps to address the human rights situation by protecting fundamental civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights of citizens particularly vulnerable segments of society, and should act following the principles of universality, objectivity, impartiality, indivisibility and non-selectivity to protect and promote human rights.” A human rights activist, Zafar Iqbal said, “The seats for women, labour and minorities in local government act 2013 has been reduced as compared to last local government act, therefore at least 33 percent seats should be reserved for women in the local government system.” “The local government elections must be held on a party basis, and on all seats instead of chairman and vice chairman only to ensure inclusive, transparent and fair process. All candidates must be directly elected to ensure the representation of true representatives of the people in the local government,” he demanded. A social activist, Rafay Joseph said, “The government must set up an independent and autonomous institution to protect children from all forms of neglect, abuse and exploitation.” “An enforcement mechanism must be put in place to ban the employment of children under the age of 14 and regulate employment between the ages of 14 and 18, and a better mechanism should also be introduced to ensure the access of all children to the right to education,” he demanded. The peace rally was held under the aegis of the Peace and Human Development (PHD Foundation) and Association of Women for Awareness and Motivation (AWAM) in collaboration with the Adara Samaji Behbood (ASB), National Initiative for Community Empowerment (NICE) and the Awareness & Development Organization (ADO). The rally was joined by a large number of people hailing from different communities including students, lawyers, and representatives of trade unions, political parties and NGOs. The participants marching from District Council to Circular Road, were carrying peace symbols, banners and placards inscribed with slogans in favour of peace and human rights and in opposition to violence and intolerance. They also shouted slogans against abuses being committed in the society, and expressed grave concerns on the dismal situation of human rights in the country and demanded the end of violence against journalists, women, children, labourers, human rights defenders, religious, sectarian and ethnic minorities.