MINGORA: The civil society activists on Thursday protested the growing incidence of honour killings in Swat insisting 30 such cases have been reported in the district in six months.

The protesters, including both men and women, staged a demonstration outside the Swat Press Club.

Executive director of the Awankening organisation Erfan Hussain Babak told protesters that women’s rights were frequently violated in Swat.

“In the men-dominated society, different kinds of injustices are committed against women like acid throwing, violence and Swara. Also, women are killed in the name of honour but such cases are later declared suicide cases,” he said.

Mr. Babak criticised both federal and provincial governments for being indifferent to the blatant violation of women’s rights.

“Both governments should take note of the growing violation of women’s rights and ensure the strict punishment of culprits,” he said.

The protesters flayed the police’s in honour killing cases and said women were killed mostly by family members in the name of honour but the cases were showed as suicide ones.

Women’s rights activist Shamsher Ali said the police blindly believed the families and didn’t properly investigate honour killings.

He said around 30 honour-related cases had occurred in Swat since January 2016.

Legal adviser of the Awakening Sohail Sultan regretted Swat was part of the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas, where many pro-women laws hadn’t been extended. “This is the main cause of the violation of the women’s rights and the growing number of honour killings in Swat,” he said.

The adviser said if the elected representatives of Swat raised the issue in assemblies, proper legislation would be done to protect women. He said only the formulation and enforcement of proper laws could ensure the protection of women’s rights.

Other speakers urged the government to take steps to decrease violation of women’s rights in Swat.

USAID TO TRAIN LG REPS: A training to prepare a pool of 54 master trainers from eight civil society organisations of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ended here on Thursday.

The organisers said the training organised under the USAID Citizens’ Voice Project in collaboration with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Governance School would help build the capacity of 14,000 elected local government representatives from Abbottabad, Charsadda, Mansehra, Mardan and Swabi districts on budgeting, local government laws, participatory planning and communications.

LGS director Barkatullah Khattak said majority of local government representatives had been elected for the first time, so the training would improve their knowledge and skills to efficiently perform duty.

USAID CVP Chief of Party Jameel Hussain said people expected their elected representatives to deliver.

“This training carries knowledge essential to better service delivery. Better policies and services will improve the connection between the state and its citizens, as well as lead to public satisfaction,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2016