December 12, 2002	Thursday	Shawwal 7, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 11: Advisor to Prime Minister for Women Development Nilofar Bakhtiar on Wednesday assured complete support to eliminate violence against women.

The advisor was speaking at a speak-out session on “Zero Tolerance for Violence Against Women” organized by the Inter Agency Gender and Development Group (INGAD).

Two victims of violence, who are being helped by the Crises Centre of Ministry of Women Development, shared their experiences with the audience comprising representatives of government departments, NGOs and donor agencies.

Participants of the meeting observed that awareness of women through media and education programmes at school and college level was a pre-requisite for preventing violence as knowledge of existing laws, government policies and support structures for the relief and rehabilitation of victims of violence could help them in this regard.

While discussing the legal procedures, the chairperson of National Commission on Status of Women, Justice Majida Rizvi (retired), said laws existed to check violence against women but in many cases even the women themselves were not aware of the protection available to them. There are clear instructions to the police to lodge FIR on a complaint by a victim, she added.