New Delhi: In the wake of disturbing trends in terms of violence including terrorism across and within nation states and the recent conflagration in Assam and the countrywide repercussions, the need for a sensitised democratic society to play a positive role in facing the new challenges and channelling creative human potential is vital.
With this as the backdrop, Jamia Millia Islamia’s Centre for North East Studies along with the Sarojini Naidu Centre for Women’s Studies is organising a workshop on Human Rights in the North East of India from October 3 to October 5, 2012 in the FTK Auditorium.
Violation of human rights is a combination of communalism, casteism, regionalism and lack of respect for law, said Jamia Millia Islamia Vice Chancellor Najeeb Jung here Wednesday.
“Universities like Jamia must sensitise their students to be at the forefront of understanding and helping resolve these issues,” Jung told IANS during a ‘Peace Walk for Human Rights in the Northeast’.
The march was organised by the university’s Centre for North East Studies and Sarojini Naidu Centre for Women’s Studies.
It was part of a three-day workshop to sensitive students about human rights violations in the northeastern region.
“The focus in the last few weeks in Jamia has been not just been on the northeast, but on human rights issues across India. In this context, we have had two big seminars on Assam and Maoist-affected areas,” said Jung.
Centre for North East Studies director Sanjoy Hazarika said the march’s objective was to involve students from Jamia because people still did not know about the issues.
“While the march intended as a visual expression, the workshop aims to familiarise participants with the complexities of the region,” he said.
The workshop participants are faculty members and students from different departments — from political science and human rights to geography and computer sciences.
Sarojini Naidu Centre for Women’s Studies director Bulbul Dar-James said they were expecting solutions from participants not just from the northeastern region but also other parts of the country. “We want to do away with the sense of exclusion,” she said.
The whole idea of the sesson was to have a multiplier effect of the workshop and to sensitise the University on the issue of Human Rights in the North East of India.
Also, works of photographers from the northeastern region capturing the turmoil are being exhibited at the university’s M.F. Husain Art Gallery.
The workshop began on the 3rd of October with a Peace March at 10 am from the Mirza Ghalib statue (main campus), road towards Jamia School, Ansari Health Centre, U turn, Administrative Block, into Ansari Auditorium Complex and culminate at MF Hussain Art Gallery, where an exhibition of photographs by three young women photographers who have worked on the North-east and conflict situations was on display. (Agencies)