Women empowerment can be ensured by giving them more power: CTD chief

The chief of Sindh’s Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), Sanaullah Abbasi, has said that empowering women is basically giving power, not restricting it.

This he said at Bahria University where he was invited on Tuesday to speak as chief guest on women’s empowerment. Talking to The News, Abbasi, who is also a PhD in law, said the definition of the empowerment of women is giving power, not controlling it, or decentralisation of power.

According to the gender gap index, he said, Pakistan is one step short of worst rating, i.e. 143 out of 144.

The number of policewomen in Pakistan is 6,000 out of the total force of approximately 400,000, and in Sindh women police number 1,800 in all ranks, while the total gazette police through CSS (Central Superior Services) is 45. Abbasi said these figures are dismal, but because of increasing awareness about human rights issues, judicial activism and renaissance in Pakistan, the future was bright.

Mothers, sisters and wives are most respected and the women can be important in the national security spectrum, particularly for curbing extremism and intolerance, which ultimately result in violence and terrorism.

The CTD chief said that if the women are encouraged in the public and private sectors, they will play the main role in the security spectrum. Like women at police stations, their recruitment against higher police posts should be considered, as women think in linear and horizontal dimensions.

He added that the sustainability of peace depended on our cultural values and cultural relativism, including the role of mother. According to the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, and another article says that everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Political empowerment

Abbasi said the global average of women holding parliamentary seats (18.6 per cent) was far from the target of 30 per cent set in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

Many factors hindered women’s political participation, such as political parties being slow to respond to women’s interest, under-investment in women campaigns, cultural barriers and their domestic and social responsibilities, he said, calling for making use of proven means for supporting women’s engagement in political competition.