Bilawal throws weight behind Aurat March

Ag APP

LAHORE: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has voiced support for the forthcoming “Aurat March” on International Women’s Day, declaring “no one can stop it from happening”.

Addressing a women’s convention organised by the PPP Lahore Women Wing at Aiwan-e-Iqbal on Thursday, Bilawal said those who think women will not march have a “medieval mindset”. “In today’s Pakistan, women march as well as take up professions such as doctors, lawyers, and prime minister,” he said.

He said it was his party that always advocated for women’s rights. He added: “All the rights being enjoyed by women in the country today had been given by the PPP during its tenures in power.”

He said whenever the struggle for women’s rights comes under discussion, the name of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto would appear on top of the list. “Every son wants to serve his mother and I will take care of all of you,” he added.

Bilawal said that it was the PPP which brought amendments to the Constitution and a law for rights of women and no one could deny women their rights now, guaranteed by the 1973 Constitution and Islam.

He added that the PPP “always believes in the equality of all genders in the country”. “The rights of equality for a 50 per cent part of the population in politics, economy, society and other sectors should be given,” he added. He said that it was the PPP which introduced the first woman prime minister among the entire Muslim Ummah with the help of the nation. “It is PPP which introduced the first woman judge in the country as well as the first women’s police station,” he added.

He said the PPP had given agricultural lands to underprivileged women and it all happened due to the efforts of the PPP Women Wing. The chairman said the PPP brought a then-revolutionary project of lady health workers in the country through which women got employment and contributed to women’s health.

“Another revolutionary project is Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), which has been introduced by the PPP to uplift the lives of poor women,” he added. Bilawal said the BISP is an “exemplary programme” which was well appreciated by the rest of the world as well and several countries copied the programme.

The PPP chairman said maternity and paternity leaves were also another facility provided by the PPP.