Police have a small number of women in service, laments Shehla Raza

Sindh Women Development Minister Syeda Shehla Raza has lamented that only a small number of women is working with the police force.

At least 10 per cent of police should comprise of women as per the constitution, she said Thursday, while addressing a programme to promote the ‘1094 helpline service’ of the Sindh government to report the cases of gender-based violence.

The provincial minister said women should be encouraged to join the police force so they should at least constitute 10 per cent of the police strength.

She said the ‘1094 helpline service’ of Sindh’s Women Development Department had been working round-the-clock. The minister said the services of different cellular network companies would be availed to do a social messaging campaign to let people know of the helpline facility in Sindh.

She claimed the laws adopted by the Sindh government to protect women’s rights had been appreciated at the international level. Raza said the services of prominent lawyers had been employed to provide better legal counselling service through the women complaint centres.

She appreciated the services and efforts of women for the progress and the development of Pakistan as “the participation of women in the legislatures, the judiciary and the administration is praiseworthy”.

She said women were associated with different walks of life, including higher education, research and politics. The minister said Sindh’s Women Development Department had initiated several programmes to encourage skilled women so they could be connected with the buyers of their products in the market.

She said Sindh’s Women Development Department had been providing legal counselling and other assistance to help the victims of domestic violence, harassment at workplace and other women facing other issues related to the rights and the protection of women.

The minister said the economic empowerment of women was highly important in enabling them to play their due part in the process of national development.

To a question, she said female victims in the cases of unlawful child marriages were housed at shelter homes with the court permission till they attained adulthood.