By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: A four-day Human Rights Workshop for North East India was organized by the Indigenous Biodiversity & Social Welfare Organisation (IBSWO) on the theme “Building Community With human Rights and Dignity for Peace” at Presbyterian Church of India, Lachumiere here on Friday.
This workshop which was organised as part of the celebration of World Human Rights Day which will be held on December 10 was done with an aim to make the people of North East aware of the importance of peace.
Delivering his address at the inaugural session, Senior Advisor of IBSWO, Rev. Dr. PBM Basaiawmoit highlighted the importance of peace stating that each human being has a single goal which is to have a peaceful life.
He, however, criticized the government for giving a complete make-over to the definition of peace. “To them, peace simply means enforcing various Acts and Laws such as Arm Forces Special Protection Act (AFSPA) to fight against the militants but at the same time keep the innocent people in danger”, he said.
The Senior Advisor further stated that few years back, some of the church leaders had a meeting with the State government to discuss on the development on peace wherein one of the church leaders raised his voice saying ‘we need peace for development’ of which the reply of the political leaders was ‘we need development for peace’. The same discussion turned into a debate which in the end concluded with no solid resolution.
“If our rights are denied and we are constantly being exploited or mistreated, there cannot be peace”, he said adding that peace can come only if everyone is treated equally.