LARKANA: A consultative meeting held here on Wednesday pointed out that Darul Amans in Sindh were plagued by lack of skilled staff, poor infrastructure and security issues.

The meeting organised by a non-governmental organisation Shirkatgah and the social welfare department discussed newly framed standard operating procedures (SOPs’) for Darul Amans.

Shariq Imam, programme manager and in-charge of the Darul Aman project of Shirkatgah, said that SOP’s revolved around infrastructure, management and rules and regulations encompassing human rights and dignity of women survivors.

He said that willing workers drawn from different fields of life would be nominated to the district advisory committee which would act as supervisory body after issuance of a notification for making recommendations for the betterment of Darul Amans.

He was optimistic about certain positive changes in the system and said that mapping system was being evolved to effectively address the issues of Dartul Aman.

Mapping system had been completed in Sukkur while in Larkana and Hyderabad it would be completed within a couple of days. A psychiatrist was must for Darul Amans to help understand issues of inmates, he said.

Dr Amir Abro said that atmosphere at Panahgah, the name of NGO’s shelter homes for women, in Karachi and three Darul Amans working in Larkana, Hyderabad and Sukkur was quite different. Culturally and traditionally women inmates lodged at Karachi were freer than those of other districts, he said.

He said that women preferred to live in Darul Aman when they needed shelter to save herself from the threat of being killed at the pretext of being ‘kari’ or from violence at the hands of her husband after marriage.

No doubt the Darul Aman was a shelter for them in Larkana, Sukkur and Hyderabad but they lived there under constant threat and suffered mental disturbance while women in Panahgah felt at home because they were not part of traditional customs and unwritten tribal rules and jirgas.

Ms Safia Tareen, programme officer of the advocacy and communication unit of Shirkatgah, Dr Amir Abro, deputy district officer of the social welfare department, Syed Jawed Shah, Hanif Suhag, Murad Pandrani and other participants shared their input on Darul Amans.

The participants of the meeting called for involving departments of education and women development in the process because both the departments were interlinked with women victims of violence and sometimes their children.

Education, being the fundamental right of the child could not be ignored while the victims were women but unfortunately the SOPs neglected women development department, said the speakers.

The meeting was informed that advisory committee would be formed on provincial level to submit their recommendations in the light of their quarterly visits to the shelter homes in the province at Larkana, Sukkur and Hyderabad.

District advisory committees would also be formed to supervise day to day issues of the shelter homes.

The meeting pointed out lack of skilled staff, poor infrastructure and poor security at Darul Amans.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2014