QUETTA, Nov 6: The Pakistan Muslim League and the federal government would strongly oppose any move to legalize jirga system in Sindh, says Advisor to Prime Minister on Women Development Nilofer Bakhtiar. She was speaking at a press conference here on Saturday.

Ms Nilofer said that any such legislation would be contrary to the bill passed by the National Assembly against honour killings.

She said that all conspiracies against the honour-killing bill would be resisted. "Legislation on honour-killing is a great success of the PML government," she said. The issue of legislation for legalizing the jirga system would be discusses in the party's central committee after Eid.

Mrs Nilofer Bakhtiar rejected the opposition's criticism on the bill against honour-killing and said that the committee formed to draft the bill also comprised women legislators from opposition parties. The law, she added, would be implemented after its approval from the Senate.

She said that the government was planning to set up 'mobile political schools' in all the provinces with the financial help of the UNDF for creating political awareness in women.

"The UNDP would provide $4.5 million and this project would continue till 2007," she told reporters.

She said that one such school would be set up at Quetta where women workers would be trained in political work, adding that the government wanted to encourage maximum number of women to participate in it ahead of the upcoming local bodies elections.

She said that her department would encourage women to contest for nazims' seats.

She said that the government had decided to set up seven crisis centres for women, adding that one such centre had already started working in Quetta.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the Quetta centre's performance, she said she had talked with Quetta Nazim Rahim Kakar on the issue who had agreed to give a centrally-located venue for the purpose. She said an NGO committee, comprising among others women journalists and lawyers, would run the centre.

The advisor said that the government would issue small loans to women for setting up stalls at 'Bachat Bazaars' for greater women empowerment.

She observed that there were too few women in the Balochistan police and said that women should be encouraged to join the department.