Steps to prevent gender-based violence discussed

Lahore:The Police Department has decided to appoint a victim support officer for woman victims of violence in every district to follow through their cases. Assistant Inspector General Police (AIG) Asad Muzaffar said this at a dialogue on gender-based violence (GBV) on Wednesday.

He stressed upon inclusion of women in every way, particularly in the raiding staff. The directives for appointment of female staff were issued on Sept 3, 2021, he said.

The dialogue “Stakeholders Dialogue towards Strengthening Gender-Based Violence Response Mechanism in Punjab” was held by Peace and Justice Network under Aawaz II in collaboration with Punjab Women Protection Authority. A district monitoring unit in every district will hold meetings with the officials of 15 Emergency on regular intervals to assess the feedback on 15 Emergency response, the Assistant Inspector General Police said.

Punjab Minister for Social Welfare and Baitul Maal Syed Yawar Bukhari said everyone needed to contribute to changing the mindset of people and fight gender-based violence as the government alone could not do that.

A presentation of Safe City Project on Women Safety App by Kamran Khan was appreciated by the participants. There are all emergency numbers on this app, even to lodge complaints about cybercrime.

The officer informed that they received 2,202 genuine calls and 2,055 hoax calls on this app. Women Protection Authority Chairperson Kaneez Fatima Chadhar said her department was soon launching a helpline, 1737.

Uzma Kardar, chairperson of Standing Committee on Gender Mainstreaming, said at present there were only one per cent women in police and women desks are only in 17 police stations. Neelum Hussain of Women Action Forum stressed on the need to work on the mindset of the masses. Tanveer Jahan of Democratic Commission for Human Rights underlined the need for responding timely.

Bushra Khaliq of Women in Struggle for Empowerment (WISE) called upon the need to restore people’s trust in police and create an enabling environment. Rehana Afzal of Social Protection Authority said the Auqaf Department should also be engaged to fight gender-based violence. Irfan Mufti of SAP-Pk also spoke on the occasion. Salman Abid of IDEA was the moderator of the dialogue.