Punjab to set up four Violence Against Women Centres

LAHORE:The new chairperson of Women Protection Authority Kaneez Fatima on Monday announced that the Punjab government would set up four ‘Violence Against Women Centres’ in Lahore, Faisalabad, Bahawalpur and Rawalpindi and there will be a toll-free number soon on which women could call and seek help.

She stated this at a seminar on ‘Empowering communities through political participation in local governance’ organised by an NGO in a hotel. The seminar was attended by a good number of political and social workers who had come from different districts. The government aims to establish VAW centres in all 36 districts of the province, she said. Women Protection Authority will launch awareness campaign in schools and colleges this month. Bushra Khaliq of the NGO informed that two lakh new councillors would come as a result of the new local government’s elections. “22,000 councils are expected in the new demarcation,” she said.

Former MPA and Advocate Mobin Qazi, an expert on laws on local bodies, motivated women to step up to contest the next local government elections. He urged the women to contest village and neighbourhood council elections. "Elections here will not be on party basis and the government will give direct funds to villages," he said. He asked the grassroots workers present at the seminar to help people in their villages in getting identity cards.

Salman Abid said, “1.25 crore women do not have national identity cards." To this Bushra Khaliq added that if a woman does not have CNIC she cannot do 23 things -- two of them are inability to vote and get share in property. Women councillors and social workers also spoke on the occasion.

awareness: A nationwide campaign “PINKtober” to protect against breast cancer will start from Tuesday (today). PINKtober is a breast cancer awareness month which aims at disseminating information regarding breast cancer prevention, detection and treatment. During ‘Pinktober’, the Pink Ribbon will sensitise women by arranging various events and activities for direct interaction. This PINKtober, Pink Ribbon is working with the government to raise awareness on this widespread issue. CEO of Pink Ribbon Omer Aftab unveiled the theme of this PINKtober. The theme is “Become a better you” which focuses on health, beauty and confidence of women and young girls.

climate: A seminar titled “Is climate change real?” was arranged at University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) in collaboration with the U.S Alumni Network on Monday. Distinguished speakers including Anila Hayat, Samiya Farooq, Saira Ishtihaq, Dr Usman Zaheer, Dawar Nouman along with officials of UVAS and members of Pakistan U.S Alumni Network Lahore chapter participated in the one-day seminar. The speakers focused on community-driven initiatives. Anila Hayat- part of the billion tree project by the Punjab government, cited the example of Tharparkar where the local community had transformed the barren land into a forest area through urban forestry within a month. She urged the participants to volunteer for such national causes. Samiya Farooq, a consultant and an advocate of regenerative farming, delivered a presentation on how soil acts as a medium for the conservation of farming systems.