No society can develop sans women empowerment: Shahbaz

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Friday said no society can be developed without women empowerment and any injustice meted out with them was equivalent to cruelty.
Respect for women and protection of their rights was an important part of the tenets of Islam, said the chief minister in his message on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
He said empowering the women was a great investment for enlightening a society, adding that providing justice to the women affected by torture was an important priority of the government.
“The PML-N government has taken practical steps to protect the rights of the women,” he said, citing various steps taken in this direction that include effective legislation and establishment of special centres.
Separately, Shahbaz said the Punjab government had taken revolutionary steps for public welfare and did not opted to making hollow claims of bringing change. He mentioned overcoming the challenge of energy shortage a big achievement of the PML-N government and lamented that not a single megawatt of electricity was produced by the previous governments in their respective tenures.
He was talking the lawmakers who called on him on Friday. They included Senator Zafarullah Khan, MNAs Muhammad Afzal Khan, Nasir Iqbal Bosal, Sajid Mehdi, Minister of State Mohsin Shahnawaz Ranjha, Provincial Minister Hameeda Waheeduddin, MPAs Muhammad Aoun Abbas and Khurram Ijaz Chattha.
“We are working honestly for a peaceful and secure Pakistan and transparency, along with a culture of merit, has been promoted by eliminating the evils of nepotism, loot and corruption,” said the chief minister.
On the other hand, Shahbaz has constituted a committee to resolve financial constraints faced by his alma mater, Government College University (GCU), Lahore. According to a press release, Punjab Minister for Planning and Development Malik Nadeem Kamran is designated as the convener of the committee which also includes three provincial secretaries and former MPA Dr Asad Ashraf.
Also on Friday, the elderly couple that was subjected to police torture in Multan again met the chief minister along with their daughter Madiha. He said action had already been taken against those who maltreated them. However, if any other person was found responsible in the light of the recommendations of the committee then he would also be prosecuted.
The chief minister also chaired a meeting to review the pace of progress on different ongoing reforms programme for providing better healthcare facilities. The meeting accorded approval to the plan of sending 14 new mobile units and 20 small mobile health units to different districts and provision of additional funds to the tune of billions of rupees for development projects of health sector.