PESHAWAR: A women empowerment and protection policy was unveiled here on Tuesday to safeguard rights of the women in the Federally Administered Tribal Area (Fata).

The policy was launched at a ceremony, attended by concerned officials, representatives of NGOs and girls students from different tribal agencies. Secretary coordination Abid Majid unveiled the policy, which, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan had approved in July.

The directorate of social welfare, Fata, with the technical and financial assistance of German agency, GIZ, had developed the policy.

Under the policy, a Fata council would be set up for empowerment and protection of women, besides developing a database on their protection through a decentralised data collection and monitoring system.

The social welfare department, Fata, will serve as a bridge between the community and civil society organisations in implementation of the policy. It would also help improve the laws to bring women of tribal agencies at par with rest of the country. Besides women facilitation centres would be set up to develop a mechanism for provision of services to women.

The social welfare department would also set up women management and information system and would conduct research on cultural and religious practices and on trends which affect women’s protection.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2014