LAHORE: Pakistan Awami Tehreek leader Dr Tahirul Qadri says educating women and protecting them from exploitation is the responsibility of the state.

Women have always proved their abilities in all walks of life. It is the foremost responsibility of the state to educate its women and protect them from exploitation and this leads to a progressive and educated society, he said while talking to women office-bearers of his party here on Friday.

“Without participation of women, no society can achieve goals of development; and it is prime duty of the state to root out anti-women exploitative mindset from society,” he said, adding that in developing and backward societies women face various kinds of restrictions in their economic, social and political activities, while these restrictions have nothing to do with Islamic teachings.

By protecting their rights, Islam empowered women 14 centuries ago as no society can progress without women participation, he said. He said Islam elevated the status of women through economic security, gave them share in inheritance, protected their rights as a wife, a sister and a daughter, and checked their exploitation and torture.

“It is the responsibility of the state to curtail prejudice and all kinds of exploitation that exist against women in society,” he said.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2019