Women lawmakers urged to utilise uplift funds towards ending domestic violence

Advisor to the Chief Minister Begum Zakia Shahnawaz has called upon the women parliamentarians to utilise their development funds on the improvement of the lot and resolved the issues related to women and strive hard to end the domestic violence on women.
This was stated by the speakers while addressing One-Day Consultation with Parliamentarians and Political Parties on Domestic Violence Bill in Punjab, held here on Thursday. The Consultation meeting was organised by Mumkin EVAW Alliance. Mumkin EVAW Alliance is a network of Civil Society Organisations, whose basic aim is to contribute to preventing and decreasing violence against women as well as improving the overall living conditions of the women. Begum Zakia Shahnawaz said that it is the duty of the women parliamentarians of national and provincial assemblies to unite themselves to move the domestic violence bill in their respective assemblies irrespective of their political affiliations.
Speaking on the occasion former Justice Nasira Javaid Iqbal has called upon the Government to restore the Local Government Institutions so the victim women of domestic violence could easily approach to the relevant institutes for redressing their issues because the women councillors are from the grass root level. She said Domestic Violence Bill was passed by the National Assembly in 2003, but later on it was lapsed from the Senate.
She stressed the PPP Government to take initative at National and Provincial level, to move the domestic violence bill at appropriate forums at the earliest possible time. She said that 90 percent women in Pakistan are victims of domestic violence while only 5 percent women have an ability to reach the police stations and courts while the rest of the women took it as their fate.
Former MNA Mehnaz Rafi called upon male dominant society to change their behaviour towards the women. She also stress that political parties have to play their due role in this regards and every effort should be made by the political parties to create enviable atmosphere for the passage of the bill with a political will.
She said that Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah always supported the cause of women as he considered them the major power of the society. The meeting was also addressed by Ms Beelum Hasnain, MNA; Salman Aabid Regional Co-ordinator SPO, Member Provincial Assembly Amna Ulfat; Dr Amna Butter; Sajida Meer; Ms Qamar Aamir Choudhry, Riffat Sultan Dar and former MNA Riffat Javaid Kahlon. Members of the various civil society organisations and political parties also participated in the consultation.