Ahmedabad based lawyer discusses human rights in Karachi

City-based lawyer and human rights activist Mukul Sinha and his wife Nirjhari recently visited Karachi and addressed top lawyers and legal luminaries there regarding democracy, judicial activism and human rights in the neighbouring countries.

The programme was held in the coastal city of Karachi in Pakistan jointly by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER), Hamdard University School of Law and the New Delhi-based Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) on June 4 and 5.

The Sinha couple was part of a five-member delegation, comprising retired Supreme Court judge Ashok Ganguly as well as senior lawyers Prashant Bhushan and Colin Gonsalves, the founder of HRLN.

The couple spoke on the subject of judicial intervention in cases of communal conflicts in India and other important legal matters. “We have discussed about minority rights in both the countries and how to give their rights by using judicial intervention. Use of the public interest litigation (PIL) was also covered in my lecture as PILs have become very popular in the Pakistan judiciary nowadays,” said Sinha.

“There is enormous urge for democracy and protection of human rights in Pakistan and activist-lawyers are fighting for it. Recently, senior lawyer Muneer Malik, who fought against military ruler Pervez Musharraf, was made the attorney-general of Pakistan,” Sinha added.

Nirjhari Sinha, also one of the speakers, enlightened Pakistanis about the use of Call Data Record (CDR) during police investigation. “The use of CDR is quite imperative during the investigation of criminal cases. But, in Pakistan, it is still a new subject. I have spoken about its importance,” she said.

Top lawyers of the Pakistan Supreme Court and high courts, sitting and retired judges and human rights activists, too, attended the two-day seminar. Sinha said a large delegation of lawyers of Pakistan and Afghanistan are scheduled to visit New Delhi next month to discuss several issues related to law.