The Supreme Court (SC), while hearing a case regarding the matter on the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government's appeal, on Monday ordered that four Women Crisis Centres in KP that were previously shuttered should be reopened.

The KP government had turned to the apex court to appeal a Peshawar High Court (PHC) order to reopen the centres. The PHC had given the order after women working in the centres had petitioned for the centres' reopening.

While discarding the KP government's appeal, a three-judge Supreme Court bench led by Justice Dost Muhammad upheld the PHC's verdict.

While giving his remarks in the case, Justice Dost Muhammad said: "These centres need to be reopened as Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf took votes for their promise of empowering women in the province."

"They boast of being the party with the largest female presence: it is time they did something for women in the province," he added.

The judge also remarked that reopening these centres should not be a problem since the government had procured foreign funding for them.

The KP government had shut the four crisis centres down in 2010 citing a lack of funds.