KOHAT, May 14: The NWFP Minister for Law, Athar Minallah, has said the government has constituted a committee to chalk out proposals for the legal help and rehabilitation of women and children languishing in prisons, so that they could become useful citizens of the country.

Talking to reporters within the premises of Kohat jail during the visit of the wife of NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah to meet Zafran Bibi, who had been awarded death sentence by a sessions court, the law minister said that although the case was sub judice, the government would do everything to help the poor family.

He said that the Hudood laws needed to be reviewed because they had some flaws such as production of four witnesses by a woman victim of rape and some other aspects.

He said that according to preliminary reports obtained by the committee, most of the women in jails were convicted for carrying drugs. Their cases would be taken up by a team of lawyers and human rights organizations, so that they could be freed.

Similarly, efforts were under way to overcome poverty, which gave birth to such crimes in the society, the minister added.

Speaking on the occasion, the governor’s wife complained that the press raised the issue of Zafran Bibi at a time when only two days had been left for the referendum, which created a lot of misunderstanding among the people in the west, where anti-Islam and anti-Pakistan sentiments were already on the rise.

She said that the press should play a responsible role, adding that the government was aware of its responsibilities.

Later, she distributed gifts among the children in the jail, who were also undergoing imprisonment along with their mothers, and cheques among the poor women.

She assured Zafran Bibi that she should not worry about her future and that of her children, because the government would provide her all help.