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GV PAN: delegates at table in conference.
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2.
CU: Mr Khalid Ishaque, former advocate General of Pakistan's Supreme Court with OVERLAID SHOTS OF delegates listening. (7 shots)
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MR ISHAQUE: "The plea for human rights is essentially an attempt to affirm the dignity of man, to deny the claim of special status to those without special merits. The question crops up whenever powerful minorities or majority groups, by abuse of social and political instrumentalities, seek to collect special dividends disproportionate to their merits or superiority. The debate about human rights becomes most acute when legal or administrative instrumentalities are used to block just changes in the status quo or to achieve decimation of a protesting minority which potentially threatens the status quo."




Initials RH/1620



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: A former Advocate General of Pakistan's Supreme Court, Mr Khalid Ishaque, has urged Muslims meeting in London that Muslim minorities should remember that their own unity is a crucial factor in guaranteeing their protection. Mr Ishaque warned an international seminar on Muslim Communities in non-Muslim states that confrontation is not always the best policy for a small group of Muslims in a country of another religion.

SYNOPSIS: The delegates from more than thirty countries have discussed their attitude to violations of Muslim minorities' human rights, and Mr Ishaque expressed his concern.