ISLAMABAD:President Dr Arif Alvi Thursday said the ongoing initiatives for women empowerment and financial inclusion through necessary legislation and structural changes would open up new avenues for the massive economic development of the country.
The president, addressing the launching ceremony of the Insaaf Watch portal, said today Pakistan was at a critical point with its youth bulge becoming the focus of world’s attention.
Developed by the Ministry of Law and Justice in collaboration with the British High Commission and Group Development Pakistan, the Insaaf Watch is a digital portal aimed at facilitating women’s access to the relevant laws, besides giving them awareness of their rights.
The president said the awareness to women about their rights was a challenge; however, frequent messaging through the media and the pulpit could be helpful as had been during the COVID pandemic.
Dr Alvi, who earlier launched the portal, also advised the Law Ministry to display posters on the women’s rights legislation in mosques, introduce the summary as well as the audio description of the laws on the portal, besides ensuring their availability in both English and Urdu languages.
He said the ratio of cases being registered was far lesser than the actual situation of women’s rights violations, which necessitated massive awareness among the women.
He said women’s rights should not be protected merely for fulfillment of international laws rather it should be done as the country’s needs as well as an obligation under Islam which had granted inheritance rights to women some 1400 years ago.
He said unfortunately a huge ratio of womenfolk was deprived of their inherited properties and the government had made necessary legislation to protect their rights and empowered the Ombudsman’s office for the purpose.
The president emphasized the true implementation of laws to do away with the usurpation of women’s properties as well as for their protection against harassment. Besides providing them their inheritance rights, the women should also be encouraged to become business partners, he said, citing the life of Hazrat Khadija (RA), who had been a successful businesswoman.
He said prior to the happening of anti-women crimes, it was the society’s responsibility to ensure their safety and exemplified the incident of Minar-e-Pakistan where a woman was harassed and the people filmed the scene instead of stopping it.
He said the measures like the disbursement of around Rs 500 billion cash assistance among the women under the Ehsaas Programme, equal education scholarships and stipends for school-going girls would lead towards their financial empowerment.
Similarly, he said, it was equally essential to pay special focus on women’s health as malnutrition, neo-natal deaths, frequent pregnancies and maternal mortality would impede them from their empowerment and active participation in the national development.
Minister for Law and Justice Barrister Farogh Nasim said after necessary legislation and structural changes, the government was in the implementation phase.
He thanked the British High Commission, the European Union and other partners for supporting the development of the portal. However, he said while implementing the laws, it was essential for the women to know about their rights.
He said the religious teachings, constitution and international laws were kept in view while making the legislation and in total, over 700 legal amendments had been made.
Parliamentary Secretary on Law and Justice Maleeka Bukhari said the portal contained laws related to women, which would create awareness of the available remedies.
She said the government passed the anti-rape law and Women Property Rights Act, and also launched a campaign against honor killing.
She said besides women, the portal was also important for the legal practitioners, media and academia.
The acting Deputy British High Commissioner also addressed the ceremony and lauded President Alvi for his continuous efforts for the protection of women rights.
She said stigma and shame still existed around the violence against women and reiterated the United Kingdom government’s support to Pakistan in doing away with the women-specific crimes.