Regressive trends: ‘Punjab govt fails to end violent attacks on women’

Exploitation, harassment on the rise in province

FAISALABAD: Women in Pakistan hold visible and important positions in law making bodies but they are still far away in getting recognition and acknowledgement as an equal citizen with equal opportunities. In addition, the Punjab government has failed to moderate violent attacks on women.

These views were expressed by MPhil research scholars Sonia Naqsh and Samra Naqsh of Government College University Faisalabad while presenting their study on Women Rights Protection in Faisalabad on Wednesday.

They added enforcement of laws failed on all fronts due to indifferent attitude of the agencies responsible for the protection of women’s rights in Punjab. The women could not save their skin from the wrath of exploitation as well as harassment in the country.



While speaking to The Express Tribune, Sonia Naqsh said, “Although the government has introduced several statutes and protection mechanism for the women but according to the data collected during the study, it was observed that hundreds of incidents of violent attacks on women occurred across the country that shows regressive trends towards women rights in Pakistan.”

She maintained there was need to sensitise all the government departments to ensue protection of women, provide them conducive working environment and take action in case of the complaint of harassment.



When contacted, Shazia George, a representative of Punjab Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW), told The Express Tribune, “The dream of achieving the equality of rights and equity cannot be attained with increasing the numbers of women in state institutions.” She added the Gender Parity Report of Punjab 2017 shows less number of women in state institutions.

Shazia said the civil society organisations in Punjab appreciated the good gestures of the government for devising the mechanism to protect women but lamented the people were kept unaware about the available strategies. She said, “As a result, fewer number of women are utilising the mechanism and not contributing to change in the society.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2017.