January 31, 2006	Tuesday	Muharram 1, 1427

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PESHAWAR, Jan 30: Speakers at a seminar urged women living in an abusive environment to develop a sense of awareness and fight for equal rights. Islam has bestowed many rights on women but lack of knowledge about Islamic teachings and un-Islamic practices in society has undermined their status in society, said Miss Shehnaz Fatima, a religious teacher, while speaking about the rights and responsibilities of women in society.

A one-day seminar entitled “Women in the eyes of the Society” was organised by Body and Soul, a platform to create a sense of awareness among women in the light of the Quran and Sunnah and gather those women of society who can bring about change.

A large number of women from different walks of life got themselves registered at the Body and Soul platform and discussed the exploitation of rights of women, especially those who were mentally tortured by their in-laws and husbands.

“There are many women in our society who had marital problems and their husbands neither provided them relief through divorce nor patched up differences with them,” said Ms Yasmeen Sultan, another preacher.

She said: “Women have the right to inheritance, the right to dower (Meher), the right to choose a life partner, the right to work and the right to protect their life and property and at the same time have many responsibilities towards their family.”

She said: “Women were faced with numerous problems as they were not aware of their rights in Islam regarding marriage and divorce. Many women forsaken by their husbands lived in loneliness and misery for years as they did not know about their responsibilities and rights.”

Farah Aqil Shah, an MPA and association member, said that such a platform would help women, especially destitute women abandoned by their husbands and abused by their in-laws, who needed guidance and awareness about their rights to get on with their normal lives anew.

Ms Razia Aziz, an MNA from the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, said that there should be platforms and organisations to provide legal aid to destitute women and those living in an abusive environment.

She said: “Provincial benches of the Federal Shariat Court should be set up so that women could easily access and file their cases regarding divorce. There is a growing tendency in society that women were simply deserted without divorcing them. Such women often had to wait for years for dissolution of marriage or divorce as they lacked knowledge and did not know how to seek legal help.”

Ms Farhat Awan, working for the rehabilitation of destitute women and abused and homeless children in Canada for the last nine years, had recently founded the Body and Soul Association to provide physical support to such women in crisis and create a sense of awareness in them.

Ms Farhat, introducing her association to women participants, said that membership of the association was open to all those women who wanted to support women in crisis or were in need of any help themselves.

She said: “The aim of the Body and Soul is to bring about women empowerment and make women self-reliant and secure at all levels.”

She said: “The association has recently started some projects to improve the status of women, to provide basic health and education facilities, to give women opportunities for income generation and create awareness about their social, economic, legal and civil rights as defined by the Shariah and the law.”

Ms Farhat said: “The association has opened up a marriage bureau, provides simple and affordable dowry to deserving girls, education about different diseases and protection against them. It also provides counselling as a mediator to couples heading for divorce.”

Many women facing marital problems got themselves registered at the end of the seminar to get legal aid and guidance on Khulah and divorce-related issues.