LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar said on Wednesday the incumbent government
was taking multiple steps for the socio-economic empowerment of women in the province.
He said this during a meeting with a delegation of the National Commission on the Status
of Women led by its chairperson Neelofar Bakhtiar which called on Punjab Chief Minister
Sardar Usman Buzdar in his office here.
The CM apprised the delegation that 18 women workers hostels and 1221 daycare centres
had been established across Punjab.
Similarly, women development centres had also been established in universities for career
planning and capacity building in addition to starting online training programmes for the women,
he continued. Meanwhile, a helpline facility was provided to give necessary legal guidance
for the solution of women related problems, he said.
The government had also strengthened the Violence Against Women Center in Multan and
such facilities would also be established in Rawalpindi and other districts to provide prompt
institutional support to the women in need, he added.
The CM assured that the chairperson of the Punjab Commission on the Status of Women
would soon be appointed and the government would also review resolving women related
problems through a joint platform.
The government was committed to providing facilities to prisoners through holistic reforms,
he added. In this regard, necessary amendments would also be introduced to revamp the
outdated system, the CM maintained and asserted that any mistreatment of the women
prisoners would not be tolerated.
The PTI government was the custodian of the rights of women which were around half
of the population, he observed and continued that it had taken practical steps in this regard.
He said the government was committed to giving equal rights as no society can progress
without practical participation of the womenfolk in the national development process, the CM
observed.
The government had also taken steps to protect women in public places and strict action
had been taken against the incidents of harassment. The harassers did not deserve any
leniency, he maintained and added that respect given to womenfolk in Quran and Sunnah
was a guiding principle for all.
Neelofar Bakhtiar appreciated the steps taken by the Punjab government and said that
practical work had been done in Punjab to provide facilities to women inmates in jails.
Provincial Law Minister Raja Basharat and others were also present.