Sindh Women Development Minister Shehla Raza informed the Sindh Assembly on Friday during the question hour that the Sindh government had signed a memorandum of understanding with Japan to initiate different skill development programmes for women of the province.
She said various skill development and training programmes of three-to-four-month duration were being carried out in 18 districts of Sindh and around 400,000 women were likely to benefit from them.
Raza said some 70 girls had received training in 2018 in Shaheed Benazirabad district in sewing, knitting, tailoring, IT and other trades so that they could become financially autonomous and self-reliant.
An opposition legislator of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Dr Seema Zia, objected to the women development department’s decision to seek support from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to conduct training courses and other programmes for the women of the province.
Responding to the objection, the women development minister said her department had been providing support to various NGOs involved in women development in Sindh but it did not fund all of their programmes.
At the outset of Friday’s proceedings, PTI legislator Khurrum Sher Zaman objected to the lack of quorum in the house, sarcastically stating that the treasury members of the assembly were busy in the Ghotki by-election due to which they were absent from the House. However, Deputy Speaker Rehana Laghari, who was presiding over the session, did not take Zaman’s objection into consideration.
At the request of PTI MPA Malik Shahzad Awan, the assembly offered Fateha for the martyred Zahid Azeem, a policeman who was recently killed in the line of duty by unidentified armed men in Baldia Town.
Speaking on the occasion, the PTI legislator praised the bravery of the martyred policeman saying that peace had been restored in Karachi owing to similar uncountable sacrifices rendered by the brave personnel of the law enforcement agencies. He said he completely stood by the bereaved family members of Azeem who had embraced martyrdom while fighting against armed robbers in Baldia Town. Later, the deputy speaker adjourned the session till August 5.