KARACHI, Aug 12: Speaking at a function to mark the All Pakistan Women’s Association (APWA’s) Golden Jubilee, the Sindh governor’s wife, Khadija Soomro, urged the educated, enlightened and well-to-do-women to wage a struggle to create awareness among poor and uneducated women regarding their rights so that they could empower themselves.

Speakers at the function on Monday also urged women to follow in the footsteps of Begum Rana Liaquat Ali Khan, who had done a lot of work for the uplift of women in the country.

They paid tributes to Begum Rana, the founder of APWA, which she found soon after independence to provide assistance in different fields to poor women.

Mrs Soomro said that a country cannot progress fully if half of its population was kept out of economic activities. She urged women to struggle hard for their rights which had been given to them by religion and the constitution, and to also play their due role in the development of society.

Earlier, other speakers said that the APWA had been running various projects in the field of income generation, skill development, education, health, human resource development, etc for women and children all over the country for over half a century, and that a large number of women have benefited from these.

Khadija Soomro also launched an over 200-page souvenir — compiled by Masudah Ahmad — comprising the history of APWA, information regarding Begum Rana Liaquat Ali Khan and other leading APWA members, besides many common women who were serving womenfolk in various fields.

An APWA website was also launched. The organizers announced on the occasion that the Cowasjee Foundation had announced to give a Rs 500,000 donation for APWA’s education project.

Tazeen Faridi, Begum Mahar Kirmani, Mr Aziz, Jehanara Hayee and others also spoke. The corps commander’s wife Afshan Ghazi also attended.