July 25, 2003	Friday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 24, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, July 24: The government should not only chalk out comprehensive policies for the protection of women rights but also ensure their implementation in letter and spirit.

This was stated by Progressive Women Association (PWA) chairperson, Shahnaz Bukhari, while speaking at a press conference here on Thursday.

Ms Bukhari said all impediments hampering women from easy access to justice must be removed. No violence either physical or psychological should be inflicted on women, she added.

She introduced an educated working woman, Shagufta, who had been denied, despite ruling of local court, to take the possession of her two children, allegedly kidnapped by her ex- husband.

After divorce from Abdul Qayyum in November 2002, Ms Shagufta sought legal custody of her children — Ali (6) and Uzma (4) — from a session court in Quetta in March 2002 and left the provincial metropolis for Islamabad following life threats from her former in-laws.

“I was repeatedly intimated and threatened by my in-laws as I brought ‘bad name’ for their family by seeking Khula from my husband which they thought was against their tribal custom,” she said.

Ms Shagufta’s former husband allegedly took away her children from her house at G -8/1 on July 17. “I immediately contacted the authorities to inform them but instead of acting promptly to foil the kidnapping attempt, the ‘inactive’ police came with a lame excuse that it was too late and he (Qayyum) might have left the federal capital,” she said.

She alleged that the police did not lodge an FIR against her former husband for kidnapping her children. “I was told that they (the authorities) would accept the orders from a court of the same jurisdiction alone,” she added.

Under rules 365 A and 365 of kidnapping, police cannot arrest perpetuator if he is the father of kids. The very laws are protecting the criminals, she regretted.

Ms Bukhari said Shagufta was a potential victim of so-called ‘honour killing’ as according to her, she had been told by her husband that his tribe had issued decree of her killing. “This is yet another terrifying example of how a male family member can totally disregard the decisions of the courts to commit kidnapping and the treat of extreme violence,” Ms Bukhari lamented.