PTI protests violence against female students

Party workers gather outside CM House, display open letter on the wall

KARACHI:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf staged a demonstration in front of the Chief Minister House on Tuesday to protest over the increasing incidents of assault and violence against women students at educational institutions of Sindh.

The protest, led by Sindh Assembly Opposition Leader Haleem Adil Sheikh, was held after the speaker refused to table a resolution by the joint opposition over this the pressing issue. PTI Parliamentary Leader Khurram Sher Zaman as well as MPAs Bilal Ghaffar, Saeed Ahmed Afridi, Raja Azhar, Rabistan Khan, Jamal Siddiqui, Shehzad Qureshi, Shahnawaz Jadoon, Adeel Ahmed, Muhammad Ali GG, Adiba Hassan and others participated in the demonstration.

The protesting PTI lawmakers also displayed an open letter which was written to the Sindh CM by the joint opposition. The document, shown on the wall of the CM house, demanded immediate action against the perpetrators of violence, harassment and murder of female students at educational institutes of the province.

The leader of the opposition, speaking at the protest, said members of the joint opposition in Sindh had been wanting to bring these serious issues for discussion in the Sindh Assembly since Friday's session.

"We also submitted a resolution in the assembly secretariat, but were not allowed to speak on the subject. This is a matter of grave concern because the trails of crimes, in which daughters of Sindh are dishonoured, lead to the PPP Sindh government," Haleem alleged. He added the CM's silence over the matter is signaling his patronage of those responsible.

He said that cases of harassment and sexual violence against women were surfacing from different cities of the province, particularly educational institutions. "There was the barbaric and heinous incident of Naukot where two young girls were abducted and molested by more than 20 people, while the local police tried to weaken the case after being put under political pressure."

He pointed to another incident in which student Perveen Rind was harassed by a senior officer of her university. "She has been protesting bare foot for justice," Haleem added. He recalled that Bakhtawar Soomro, a student of IBA Sukkur, was another victim of harassment by the university administration.

He asked who was moving the court to seek justice for her, while also highlighting the case of Sujawal's Almas Bhan who was forced to abandon her studies at Sindh University as certain unscrupulous elements attempted to abduct her.

The letter also recalled the cases of Tania Khaskheli, a tenth grade student of Jhangara, who was shot dead by the son of a local landlord. It pointed to a case of a village in Ghulamullah Chandio of Thatta district where the corpse of Amna Chandio, 14, was exhumed and desecrated.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 16^th, 2022.