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ISLAMABAD, March 7: President Gen Pervez Musharraf has asked the nation to work for enhancing status of women in the society and ensuring their effective integration into mainstream of national development.
In his message on International Women’s Day, the president said it was an important day as it reiterated the commitment of all nations to the cause of women development.
“Women are free to enter professions of their choice both in the public and private sectors,” he said.
We all need to join hands on this day and pledge to do our best to achieve the goals set by the UN, he added.
The theme decided by the UN for year 2003 is ‘women empowerment, the key to achieving the millennium development goals’.
The government of Pakistan has also declared 2003 as ‘Year of Madar-i-Millat’, while the national theme is ‘women and men as partners’.
The role of women in national development has been strengthened and consolidated by not only restoring but also increasing their seats in the national and provincial assemblies and the Senate, besides representation at the local government in the form of more than 40,000 councillors at district, tehsil and union council levels, he said.
“By implementing this, we have given the future of women in the hands of women. Now it is upto them to use this empowerment and make a shift in focus from dependency to development.”
The rights of women are enshrined in the Holy Quran and the Constitution also covers gender equality, he added.
Article 25 (1) states that “all citizens are equal before law and are entitled to equal protection of law and there will be no discrimination on the basis of sex alone”.
PM’s MESSAGE: Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali has urged the nation to develop a conducive environment for promoting gender equality in the society.
In his message on the occasion of International Women’s Day, the prime minister asked the people to prepare themselves for the future challenges.
He appreciated the plans chalked out by the ministry of women development to celebrate the occasion with a national theme ‘women and men as partners’.
The year 2003 has also been declared as the ‘Year of Madar-i- Millat’, PM Jamali said.
“I hope the activities planned by the ministry of women development and other departments will help in creating awareness among the younger generation about the significant contributions of Mohtarama Fatima Jinnah in the creation of Pakistan.”
It will also highlight how much Father of the Nation, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, was concerned about making women equal partners in nation building, he added.
“The policy on empowerment and development of women announced by the President in March, 2002, which was developed through a process of extensive and intensive consultations involving all stakeholders, would be disseminated to all the quarters concerned.” The government is committed to implement the policy, he added.
Meanwhile, the UN theme for the event is ‘women empowerment- the key to achieving the millennium development goals’.
NILOFAR’S MESSAGE: Adviser to the prime minister on women development, Nilofar Bakhtiar, in her message on the occasion of the International Women’s Day has said the day provides opportunity to the people to examine the progress made in promoting and protecting women’s rights in the country.
She said: “This day is an occasion to reiterate our commitment to promote women’s rights and realize the vision of our founding fathers to create a society free from all discrimination and exploitation.
“Women in Pakistan have come a long way. While they still have a long way to go, the progress made in promotion and protection of the rights of women in Pakistan in the last three years is undeniable. The women of Pakistan today live and breathe in an environment, which was unimaginable only a few years ago,” she said.
Ms Bakhtiar said: “Today we have 33 per cent women councillors in all local bodies. About 40,000 women have been given the opportunity to participate in the affairs of their communities.”
She said about 73 women were elected in the National Assembly, making up nearly 22 per cent of the total strength another 138 were on the four provincial assemblies.
