KARACHI, April 23: Speakers at a workshop on Saturday stressed that women will have to wage a long struggle to get their due rights that had been given guaranteed in the constitution. They were speaking at the conclusion of a two-day workshop, organized by the Dastak Charitable Trust. Over 20 representatives from different shelter homes participated.

Justice (retd) Majida Rizvi, chairperson, National Commission on Status of Women, former judge of the Supreme Court Justice (retd) Nasir Aslam Zahid, Hina Jillani, Anis Haroon, Zubeida Khalid, Gulnar Tabbasum, Dr Farhat Zahid, Anila Ansari, and others spoke.

The speakers said that incidents of domestic violence were on the rise, and stressed the need for opening many more shelter homes.

Data regarding Karachi women prison was also provided, according to which there were 229 women prisoners, accompanied by their 40 minor children had been living in the jail. They said that 134 women were under-trail, while 85 had been convicted, while 10 - all foreigners - hav completed their sentences, but are still in the prison for different reasons.

They said conviction rate was very high in foreigners as out of 94 prisoners, 62 had been convicted, and 22 were under trial prisoners, while 10 had completed their sentences but were still in jail as they were waiting to get travel documents.

They said Pakistani under trial women prisoners outnumbered convicted prisoners by more than five to one. Pre-trial detainees, contravening international norms, are not even separated from convicts. Many detainees were, in numerous instances, held for years before being acquitted of the alleged crimes with which they were charged.

Citing data they said that there were 135 Pakistani women prisoners and only 23 had been convicted while 112 were still being tried in different courts.

Giving some statistics about the Legal Aid Office, they said that out of 229 prisoners, almost half of them - 114 - have retained the services of the LAO to present their cases at the trial and the high court.

They said that five lawyers - including four females - and a female administrator handled their cases.

They said that among the Pakistan prisoners, 48 percent were being tried for zina ordinance, while 27 percent for murder, and 13 percent for robbery and theft.

The participants were also taken on an exposure trip to the Special Prison for Women, the Legal Aid Office that provides free legal aid to the women jail inmates, and a women's shelter home, Panah.