HYDERABAD, July 22: The Women Councillors Conference, held here on Sunday under the aegis of the Citizens Action Committee for Women Rights, Hyderabad, has called upon the government to legislate a law against ‘Karo-Kari’, a tradition under which people accused of extra-marital affairs are killed.

The conference adopted several resolutions one of which called to the elimination of this curse through legislation. It condemned the criminal assault on Mukhtaran Bibi of Meerwala and demanded deterrent punishment to the accused involved in this despicable crime.

A large number of women councillors from the district attended the conference.

It demanded that the women councillors should be treated at par with the male councillors in respect of the allocation of funds for the development schemes. It urged the government to furnish adequate funds to the women councillors for the distribution of Zakat and other charity goods.

The conference demanded that in the interest of democracy, the ban on political activities should be lifted.

In another resolution, the conference demanded that the condition of graduation should not be made applicable to the women representatives in the ensuing general elections to ensure proper representation of the fair sex in the parliament and the provincial assemblies.

Addressing the conference, a member of the district council, Hyderabad, Saira Naseer, opined that the women were being discriminated against in the society because they were disunited.

Another DC member, Farheen Mughal, said that the new local system had not come out of its teething trouble as the women councillors were not being treated at par with the male councillors.

A councillor of Tando Jam, Ms Zubeda, complained that during the last one year, not a single widow had been paid Zakat money.

Two councillors, Ms Mehar-un-Nisa, of Qasimabad taluka, and Ms Haseena of Tando Allahyar, complained that no development work had been carried out in the taluka and the gutters were overflowing.

The coordinator of Aurat Foundation, Adam Malik, said that the organization was holding conferences at district level to highlight the problems of the women councillors and that it would set up resource centres in every district.

Speaking on the occasion, the City Nazim, Hyderabad taluka, Haji Moinuddin Shaikh, said that the credit for transfer of power at the grass root level and for giving representation to the extent of 33 per cent to women must go to Gen. Musharraf.

The Nazim of Taluka Council, Latifabad, Abdul Jabbar, said that a separate fund should be allocated for women.

Noor Mohammad Bajeer, Hassan Pathan, Bano Soomro, Rukhsana Khalil, Naima Baloch, and Ms Zulekha also spoke on the occasion.