Lawmakers, civil society activists call for setting up safe houses for women

Sindh Assembly women lawmakers and civil society activists in a meeting on Sunday discussed the Sindh government’s initiatives taken for the protection of women's rights and stressed the need for setting up safe houses in all the districts of the province to provide immediate protection to the affected women.

Members of the Women Caucus of the Sindh Assembly and representatives of the Civil Society Support Program organisation (CSSP), Women Leadership Forum, Mirpurkhas, and Citizen Support Group, Mirpurkhas, attended the meeting that was held at the assembly’s committee room and presided over by Rehana Leghari, deputy speaker of the provincial legislature and patron of the Women Caucus.

Sindh Minister for Women Development Department Shehla Raza, Chairperson Child Protection Authority Sindh Shamim Mumtaz, PPP MPAs Ghazala Sial, Farhat Sami, Sharmila Farooqi, Shazia Umar, Kulsoom Chandio, the PTI's Adeeba Hassan, MQM-P’s Rana Ansar and Shahana Ashar, Sarwat Fatima of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, CSSP chief executive Noor Bajir, Nuzhat Shireen, chairperson of the Sindh Commission on the Status of Women, and others attended the meeting.

Shehla Raza said the provincial government had recently increased the budget of the department and also allowed immediate recruitment of staff. She said some new projects should be expedited.

Rehana Leghari said safe houses had already been set up temporarily by the senior superintendents of police in the districts, but despite that, the situation was not ideal there. “The purpose of the safe house must be legislated to distinguish between Darul Aman and the safe house,” she said.

Noor Bajir said the Sindh government had taken extraordinary steps for the protection of women’s rights and these steps were highly appreciated in the other legislative forums. “Wherever women's rights are concerned, the Sindh Assembly comes first.” .