LAHORE: Despite lapse of over an year, the Punjab government has yet to appoint chairperson of the Punjab Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW) which reflects its complete disregard to promotion of women empowerment in the country, said a woman rights activist.
“In May 2019, the Punjab government without explaining any reason had terminated the PCSW chairman, Fauzia Waqar. As per law, the PCSW chairperson must be appointed within a span of three months, but this important slot is lying vacant for more than a year which shows Punjab government’s complete disregard to promotion of women empowerment in the country,” regrets Asma Aamir, a women rights activist working as a project coordinator at Sangat Development Foundation.
Currently, the PCSW is completely lying dysfunctional because the extension granted to its members expired last year. Interestingly, the positions of all the regional heads are being shown as vacant on the PCSW’s website since the beginning of this year, she points out while talking to Business Recorder.
According to her, hundreds of thousands of destitute and working women are the prime victim of this situation. She said they wanted to launch a project in collaboration with the PCSW but they had to postpone their plan due to the absence of the PCSW head. “We are not the only one affected by this situation but there are several other NGOs wanted to partner with the PCSW,” he asserted.
She recounted that under the leadership of Fauzia Waqar, the PCSW had introduced several initiatives for the empowerment of women but her sudden termination not only surprised rights activists in Pakistan but abroad as well.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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