KARACHI: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had always stood for the women’s rights and their empowerment in Pakistan, said PPP women wing president Faryal Talpur.

She was speaking as the chief guest at a social protection convention arranged by Pakistan Baitul Mal (PBM) at the Arts Council of Pakistan here on Monday.

A total of 100 families of orphan girls were presented with payments through a newly launched Orphans and Widows Supporting Programme (OWSP) on the occasion.

On the occasion, Ms Talpur counted many firsts of women-led initiatives by the PPP, from the First Women Bank and Women police station to the Lady Health Workers Programme, which started during the first and second tenures of late former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and successfully continued and mainstreamed in Pakistan.

“The most recent initiative on empowering women economically by the Sindh government was the handing over of 25 acres of land to the landless women farmers in Sindh,” she said.

Recalling another women’s empowerment initiative named ‘Women on Wheels’ launched from the same venue by her in Karachi, she said that another women-centered and women-led initiative ‘Pink Taxis’ by the Sindh government was also being launched soon in Karachi, which would then be taken to other parts of the province, too. On the occasion, Ms Talpur also distributed sewing machines among widows from the PBM.

PBM managing director Aamir Fida Paracha said the OWSP had been launched for widows to support their daughters with a stipend of Rs8,000 for one girl and Rs12,000 for two girls to help them continue their education.

PPP Senator Waqar Mehdi, MNA Shahida Rehmani, Provincial Minister for Labour Saeed Ghani, and MPAs Sohail Anwar Siyal, Qasim Siraj Soomro and Sadia Javed also attended the convention along with a large number of the PBM beneficiaries, their families, and social protection and civil society activists.

Published in Dawn, january 3th, 2023