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| BISP helps register over 150,000 |
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women in FATA, NWFP, Balochistan
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Our correspondent
Islamabad
The Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) helped more than 18,000 women in their registration in FATA whereas around 76,000 women in Balochistan and 65,000 in NWFP received their computerised national identity cards (CNIC) from Nadra.
Chairperson BISP Farzana Raja stated this in a meeting of the Women Parliamentarians’ Task Force on Gender Mainstreaming, held in Bhurban, organised by the Gender Reform Action Plan (GRAP) in collaboration with UNFPA.
The meeting was attended by 43 women Parliamentarians from national and provincial assemblies. Prominent among them were MNA Farzana Raja, Provincial Minister for Women Development Sindh Tauqir Fatima Bhutto, Provincial Minister for Women Development Balochistan Ghazala Gola and Parliamentary Secretary from Punjab Government Asma Bukhari.
Aimed at discussing the different dimensions of violence against women in the country and the role Parliamentarians can play to curb the menace, the meeting was told that every three hours, an average of one rape against a woman or a child is reported in Pakistan.
Human Rights Activist Dr Fauzia Saeed and Executive Director Sachet Dr Rukhshanda Parveen briefed the participants about the issues faced by women and the institutional mechanism required to provide security to women, so they could play a pivotal role in the country’s development.
Terming it a positive sign in the direction of women empowerment, the women Parliamentarians said there is a cross party consensus in the Parliament about the vitality of gender mainstreaming in the country’s economic development and agreed upon the need for special measures to involve women in the mainstream. They said in order to bring change in the social mindset, women Parliamentarians need to become role models for the general public.
The participants condemned the atrocities committed by Taliban against women and called for an effective policy on women’s reproductive health and education. Asma Bukhari said that women’s economic stability would directly help them in raising their own status and dealing with violence.
The women Parliamentarians complained that the male Parliamentarians are not yet fully convinced on the issues of violence against women. Rubina Qaim Khani stressed that men should also be included in such sessions for consensus building.
Tauqir Fatima Bhutto, Minister for Women’s Development Sindh, condemned the feudal lords for endorsing violent traditions against women, adding that our religion does not allow any such hostility. She suggested the women’s provincial ministry to set up a separate directorate to deal with women related issues more adequately.
Technical Advisor UNFPA Nagina Sadaf said there is a need to improve the implementation of the already existing laws, adding that joint efforts are required to end violence against women.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
