Islamabad, the 6th February, 2018.  38th meeting of the Standing Committee on M/o Human Rights met today at 02:00 am in the Committee Room of Ministry of Human Rights, Islamabad, under the Chairmanship of Mr. Babar Nawaz Khan, MNA.

The meeting commenced with recitation from the Holy Quran. The Committee confirmed the minutes of the previous meeting which was held on 18th January, 2018. The Committee Members were asked to examine the Comprehensive Report/implementation status of the previous recommendations of the Committee and give their reservations on it.

Then the Committee was given briefing by the Director General Development, Ministry of Human Rights on the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for the Ministry of Human Rights financial year 2018-19. He informed the Committee that Ministry of Human Rights has no project staff of lawyers whereas legal work is being taken up with the help of two lawyers deputed for Helpline 1099. He added that Ministry of Human Rights needed restructuring to develop and strengthen it. They need to develop strategy paper upon which the Standing Committee expressed displeasure on the briefing and performance of the Ministry of Human Rights. The Committee unanimously decided to hold another meeting after the ensuing session of the National Assembly with all the stake-holders like Ministry of Planning and Development, Ministry of Establishment, Law and Justice Division, CDA for allotment of land for establishment of National Institute of Human Rights as well as the Commissions of the Ministry of Human Rights to resolve the major issues of the Ministry.

The meeting was attended by Sahibzada Muhammad Yaqub, Mr. Sayed Essa Nori, Begum Tahira Bukhari, Dr. Shazia Sobia, Ms. Amra Khan, Ms. Munaza Hassan, Ms. Phyllis Azeem, Ms. Surriya Asghar,  Ms. Kiran Haider, Ms. Asiya Naz Tanoli, Ms. Zahra Wadood Fatemi, Ms.Musarat Rafique Mahesar, Ms. Kishwer Zehra, Ms. Naseema Hafeez Panezai, Mr. Sajid Nawaz, MNAs, Minister for Human Rights and officials of the Ministry of Human Rights and Planning and Development.