Women’s participation in uplift process vital: secretary

LAHORE:Secretary Industries and Commerce Dr Ahmad Javed Qazi presided over a meeting at the Civil Secretariat on Thursday.

The performance of the Women Resource Centre established in Lahore with the mutual cooperation of Punjab Small Industries Corporation and Women Chamber of Commerce was reviewed in the meeting.

Addressing the meeting, Ahmed Javed Qazi said that development goals could not be achieved without involving women, who are more than half of the country's population, in the development process. Empowerment of women is the priority of the government; therefore, all necessary steps should be taken to provide business opportunities to them. He said that women should be given facilities to set up stalls in model bazaars. More economic opportunities should be provided to females in handicraft shops as well.

Project Director Sohaib Zafar gave a briefing regarding the performance of Women Resource Centre. Founder President of Women Chamber of Commerce Lahore Dr Shahla Javed Akram, DMD PSIC M Shahid and officers of Punjab Small Industries Corporation attended the meeting. Later, the performance of the Industrial Cluster Development Initiative was reviewed in another meeting presided over by the Secretary Industries and Commerce.

Secretary Industries and Commerce in the meeting said that the Industrial Cluster Development Initiative is an important project which should be carried forward at a fast pace and performance of all four clusters will be reviewed every week.

workshop: Child Protection & Welfare Bureau (CPWB) Punjab in collaboration with NGO Islamic Relief Pakistan held training workshops for Punjab Police on the prevention of child abuse in Rawalpindi.

The main purpose of this training was to sensitise police officers on child abuse laws and to create awareness among the masses for prevention of violence against children. Chairperson CPWB Sarah Ahmad, who took the initiative, said, “Child Protection Bureau and Punjab Police are working together for the prevention of child abuse in Punjab and we are quite determined to make Punjab free from child abuse.”

She said CPWB had already conducted training of Lahore police in which SHOs of all police stations were trained. ‘The Bureau encourages people to call on Child Rescue Helpline 1121 and get help from CPWB if they see a child in distress,’ she added.