PA passes resolution for ending violence against women

Marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25, the Sindh Assembly unanimously passed a resolution on Friday calling on the provincial government to take necessary measures to prevent physical and mental abuse of women.

The resolution read,” The Sindh Assembly remembers 25th November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and demands that the Sindh government should take measures to control it. This House also commits to providing basic rights to women and condemns mental and physical torture on women. This House also commits that all possible laws will be framed to provide basic rights to women of Sindh.

This House should also commit to providing equal status to women politically and socially in all of Sindh.”

The resolution was read in the House by MPA Naheed Begum of the opposition Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and MPA Ghazala Siyal of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party.

Speaking on the resolution, Siyal said the PPP government in the province deserved credit for adopting necessary laws for due protection of the rights and privileges of women.

She added that the PPP should also be credited with raising voice at all relevant forums against the excesses being committed against women be it in the form of domestic violence or honour killings.

She said the PPP had played an important role for adopting laws both at the federal and provincial levels to prevent the atrocities being committed against women.

Naheed Begum of the MQM said the Constitution of 1973 ensured equal rights for all citizens of the country regardless of their gender.

She said it was a matter of pride for the members of the Sindh Assembly that the provincial legislature had passed a number of laws to protection and conserve the prestige, honour, and dignity of women. She added that a bill passed by the assembly for the prevention of harassment of women at their workplace was an important development.

Thar coal dam

The provincial assembly was informed that the government was willing to double the compensation for the Tharparkar residents, who would be displaced from the proposed site of the Thar coal dam.

Through a call-attention notice, Nusrat Seher Abbasi of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Functional raised the issue of the protest movement being led by the residents of Tharparkar against the proposed site of Thar coal dam over its possible adverse effects on the agricultural land of the area.

Dr Sikandar Mandhro, the provincial health minister who until sometime ago held the portfolio of the environment department, said the government had selected the site after much deliberation on the basis of surveys conducted by experts.

He said the selection of the present location of the proposed dam was inevitable for the necessary extraction of water from the underground reserves of coal so that they could be used for electricity generation.

He added that the government would build model a village for residents of the site and provide them with all necessary healthcare and educational facilities there.

The parliamentary affairs minister said that mining up to 300 feet beneath the ground was needed for the extraction of coal and water storage was necessary for the coal energy project.

He said the proposed site of the Thar coal dam was spread over 1,500 acres areas. Of this, 1,000 acres belonged to the government land while the rest was private land. He added that up to 50 percent owners of these 500 acres had agreed to the construction of the the water storage facility.

The minister said this vast energy resource would provide thousands of megawatts of electricity for the energy-starved country.

He said that government was committed to financially compensating and providing land to the people affected by the Thar coal dam project.

Local government minister Jam Khan Shoro informed the House that the Hub Dam was providing 100 million gallons of water daily to the West district in Karachi.

Responding to a call-attention notice of MQM lawmaker Saifuddin Khalid about the water shortage in Orangi Town, the provincial minister said that in the past the Hub Dam had gone completely dry as bulk water supply from the reservoir had stopped during the tenure of previous chief minister Qaim Ali Shah and heavy suction machinery was used to draw water from the dam.

He said the recent rains had increased the water level in the Hub Dam restoring 100 MGD water supply to the western parts of Karachi. He said the Sindh government had been working to complete the K-IV Greater Karachi Water Supply Scheme for permanently resolving the water crisis persisting in Karachi.

Salaries of LG office-bearers

The local government minister informed the House that the office-bearers of the local government set-up in the province were given an honorarium as compensation for their public services and it should not be equated with a proper salary package for them.

He said that no properly salary compensation package could be devised for the elected office-holders in local government system as they were discharging their duties on an honorary basis for the cause of public service.

He was responding to a point of order raised by opposition leader Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hassan about the low salary packages for the local government office-bearers.

The opposition leader cited media reports which cited that the government was going to recommend Rs10,000 per month salary for the chairman of a union committee and Rs8,000 monthly remuneration for its vice-chairman.

He said the provincial government had already fixed a Rs14,000 minimum monthly salary for labourers in the province.