SHRC seeks verified data on women’s right to property

The Sindh Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has formally requested the Sindh Social Welfare Department to provide verified data on women’s ownership and inheritance rights, following directions from the National Assembly’s Special Committee on Gender Mainstreaming.

The NA committee has sought provincial status reports and identified implementation challenges under its agenda item titled “Women’s Right to Property.” According to an official correspondence (accessed by The News), addressed to the Secretary of the Social Welfare Department, Sindh, the SHRC has been tasked by the National Assembly Secretariat to compile a comprehensive status report on women’s property and inheritance rights in Sindh. The report will form part of the Sindh government’s official submission to the parliamentary committee during its session held at Parliament House, Islamabad.

The commission’s letter, issued by Agha Fakhr Hussain, secretary SHRC, stated that the report will focus on ownership patterns, access barriers, and implementation mechanisms related to women’s inheritance and property entitlements. The SHRC emphasized that verified departmental data and policy inputs are “crucial for this purpose.”

The commission has specifically sought on details of community-based programmes supporting women’s access to property resources, inheritance facilitation, or grievance redressal mechanisms, data on psychosocial or economic support programmes linked with women’s ownership and empowerment, the letter further mentioned that the collected information will help strengthen Sindh’s monitoring framework under SHRC’s statutory mandate and support its coordination with the National Assembly’s Special Committee.

Senior legal and constitutional expert Advocate Dharmendar told The News that under Article 23 of the Constitution of Pakistan, every citizen has the right to acquire, hold, and dispose of property, but in practice, women often face systemic barriers in exercising this right. Despite clear Islamic and statutory provisions guaranteeing inheritance for women, social pressures, lack of awareness, and procedural obstacles continue to deny many women their rightful share.

In 2020, Parliament passed the Enforcement of Women’s Property Rights Act, aimed at protecting and securing women’s ownership rights across Pakistan. However, implementation remains uneven across provinces due to weak institutional coordination and inadequate record-keeping mechanisms.

Sindh has taken limited but notable steps through its Women Development Department and Human Rights Commission, but officials acknowledge that reliable data on property ownership and inheritance among women remains scarce.

The SHRC’s fresh initiative to gather verified statistics is seen as a move toward improving transparency, identifying policy gaps, and ensuring that women across Sindh can fully benefit from their constitutional and legal entitlements to property and inheritance. The Sindh government’s consolidated report, once completed, will be presented to the National Assembly’s Special Committee on Gender Mainstreaming for review and further policy guidance.