Protection of women: Minister announces to establish national-level taskforce

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal on Friday announced to establish a national-level taskforce for the protection of women.

The minister made this announcement while speaking at the conclusion of 16-day campaign against Gender Based Violence (GBV), initiated by the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives while engaging their Young Development Fellows (YDFs).

The ceremony was attended by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) Executive Director, Dr Shaista Sohail, Vice Chancellor Rawalpindi Women University (RMU) Dr Kamal, YDFs of Planning Ministry, students, and civil society activities.

“The national task force will work against the violence of women and following their suggestions, the task force will actively play its role in reducing the case of violence against the women,” said the minister, while addressing the participants.

It is noted that the 16-day campaign was started on November 25 last month on the International Day for the elimination of Violence against Women. On this day, the ministry also launched its Gender Unit to ensure that all the policies made under the auspices of the Planning Commission would take the gender perspective into consideration.

Following the campaign, the YDFs attached with the ministry conducted seminars in various educational institutes to create awareness among the masses about the cybercrime laws, policies and violence against the women. The representatives of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW), and HEC took part in this campaign.

“No country can progress without the active participation of the women, while referring to the example of China and Bangladesh, which has given full representations to their women as a result they showed a great progress in the development,” said the minister, while addressing at the conclusion of the campaign.

The minister also launched a booklet that spreads awareness over violence against women and pro-women laws in Pakistan that protect women rights. The booklet would be disseminated among all the universities in Pakistan through HEC. The booklet contains the descriptions of all the pro-women laws introduced in Pakistan to provide guidance to women in Pakistan.

The minister regretted that in the past women were not given equal representation as a result the country could not progress. However, he said that now women participation is more in various fields particularly in the education sector. The enrollment of female students is more as compared to the male students which is a positive sign, said the minister, while highlighting the significance of the women’s participation in the development of the country.

According to a latest research report by Digital Rights Foundation, 40 per cent of women in Pakistan have been victims of cyber bullying in the form of sexual harassment, blackmailing, hate speech, stalking, identity theft, and physical threats.

While highlighting the women rights protected by the Islam, the minister said that Islam is the only religion which empowered the women by giving equal rights. Lack of education is directly associated with violence against women but recent high-profile cases show that women in elite and educated circles suffer at the hands of educated and rich men, he added.

Vice Chancellor RWC Dr Kamal in her remarks appreciated the Ministry of Planning Commission for successfully completing this much-needed campaign which helped in creating awareness among the masses. The RWU will continue to collaborate with the ministry for creating awareness among the masses, she added.

“We are committed to the cause of women education believing that it is the tool to fight GBV and make them economically independent,” remarked the VC.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022