Ombudspersons to probe harassment cases

Committees ordered in each organisation to look into such instances in merged districts

PESHAWAR:

Special ombudsperson offices are being set up in the newly merged districts (NMDS) of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) in order to address the cases of sexual harassment of women at the workplace.

The real purpose of these offices is to serve the people of remote and far-flung areas without any political consideration.

This was claimed by Special Assistant to Chief Minister K-P on Information and Public Relations Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif Sunday during his visit to the Secretariat of Ombudsperson K-P for Protection Against Harassment of Women at Workplace. He also met Provincial Ombudsperson Rakhshanda Naz and discussed matter of mutual interest with her.

Rakhshanda Naz briefed the Special Assistant on the performance of the organization and the challenges it is facing while dealing with the cases of women’s harassment at their workplaces.

She informed the CM’s aide that all institutions have been directed to form committees to investigate incidents of harassment of women and fines have been imposed on institutions that do not take action and do not investigate incidents of harassment.

She said that under the Women’s Rights to Property Act, widows evicted from property have been given these legitimate rights. The role of the Provincial Ombudsman’s Office is important in preventing incidents of harassment of women, Barrister Saif said after the briefing.

He said the women of the ombudsman’s office are welcome to assist in cases in other provinces. Establishment of separate desks for women of newly merged districts will immediately address their grievances, the special assistant said.

He said, the K-P government has delegated the power to redress grievances through provincial ombudsman under the Enforcement of Women’s Rights to Property Act.

All issues facing the Provincial Ombudsman Secretariat will be resolved, Saif assured. Ombudsman offices are being set up in newly merged districts and remote areas to facilitate people without any political consideration, he concluded.

It may be mentioned here that sexual harassment of women is a major problem across Pakistan especially at education institutes and K-P is no exception in this regard. Dozens of cases of harassment are reported from universities and public and private offices. Despite strict instructions to organizations and departments to form special committees to probe cases of sexual harassment internally, most of the departments have failed to establish their internal committees.

In the traditional Pakhtun society inheritance of women is also a big problem because they are not entitled to inherit property from their parents despite the fact that the constituition guarantees the inheritance rights of women in Pakistan.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 7^th, 2022.