NCSW highlights plight of under-trial women prisoners in Punjab jails

LAHORE: Calling upon the judiciary to give some priority to the cases of women, Chairperson of the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) Nilofar Bakhtiar has said that they recently carried out interviews of some women, particularly those confined in Punjab jails, have revealed that most of them were awaiting decisions from their respective courts for more than a decade.

“For God’s sake, I appeal to you (judiciary) to put the cases of women on priority because most of them don’t get family support when they are booked in any case,” said Nilofar while speaking to reporters during an interactive session held at a local hotel on Thursday. The session was organised by Huqooq-e-Pakistan, a joint initiative of the European Union and the Ministry of Human Rights.

The chairperson said that during the last three days in Lahore, she held separate meetings with Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, Governor Chaudhry Sarwar, Speaker Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and Law Minister Raja Basharat and discussed with them the appointment of new chairperson for Punjab Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW) which is lying vacant since May 2019 after the PTI government suddenly removed Dr Fauzia Waqar.

“Currently, the ombudspersons are working only on two things - harassment at workplaces and inheritance rights of women – although there are a lot of other issues of women as well,” she lamented and said if the powers of this institution were not increased, then it would be a total waste of resources.

According to the NCSW chief, most of the ombudspersons are working under the administrative control of other departments which is astonishing. “The ombudspersons must be autonomous,” she suggested.

“If a woman is sent to jail, her family unfortunately abandons her without even knowing whether the charges against her were genuine or fake,” Nilofar said and urged the judiciary to set up separate courts for speedy trials of women besides limiting the trial period and setting up rehabilitation centres for them. It is another matter of concern that men can be released on pay roll while women can’t get this opportunity, she said.

During her stay in the provincial capital, the chairperson said she visited women police stations, anti-harassment cells, Kot Lakhpat Jail, human rights crisis centre for women, All Pakistan Women’s Association (APWA) and some NGOs and held meetings with the concerned senior officials to devise a strategic plan to curb gender-based crimes.

“For this cause, I approached lawmakers both from the government and the opposition parties to sit together and devise the strategic plan, but Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza have refused to attend the session,” she disclosed.

According to her, the NCSW in collaboration with IBA Karachi is planning to offer fellowships to the media persons. In the first phase, a batch of 40 people would be trained as master trainers in how to investigate and report on gender-based crimes, she said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021