KARACHI, Nov 10: The federal government has assigned the ministries of women development, special education and health to evolve an action plan for the rehabilitation of women and children affected by the earthquake.
All the four provincial ministers of women development as well as the federal minister and other concerned officials would also be meeting in Islamabad on Nov 22 to discuss the issue, prepare recommendations and devise a strategy.
This was stated by the Sindh Minister for Women Development, Dr Saeeda Malik, on Thursday.
Talking to journalists, following her recent visit to the quake-devastated areas, the minister said that during such circumstances it was imperative that all Pakistanis must inculcate amongst themselves the spirit of “self-help and self-reliance”.
Maintaining that the submission was not to undermine the support and help extended by the relief teams from across the globe, she stressed that Pakistanis must maintain the spirit till each and every quake victim was rehabilitated.
The minister appealed to the people of Sindh in general and Karachiites in particular to strongly support the “Sponsor a family” campaign being launched by the federal government for the resettlement and rehabilitation of the quake-hit families in AJK and the NWFP.
“It is against this backdrop that I would appeal to the masses to support the sponsor a family campaign,” she said mentioning that under the campaign in question, each donor or group of donors would be required to provide US$1,200 per year ie Rs6,000 per month.
The minister said that the overseas Pakistanis would also be invited to participate in the campaign ultimately helping the devastated families to revert back to their normal lives.
Giving further details of the campaign, she said that the programme was being chalked out in such a manner that a sense of affiliation was engendered among the donors as well as the recipients adding that the donors would be provided all details.
Replying to a query the minister said that the details of the campaign would be finalized and formally announced by the end of November adding that besides the Nadra (National Database and Registration Authority) was being actively involved in collecting each and every detail of all the quake victims, the Pakistan Army was also engaged in collecting appropriate information, she added.
“The mechanism would be absolutely foolproof,” Dr Malik said responding to another query that the adoption of children would not be permitted for at least during the first year.
The minister with regard to the issue of women of the ravaged areas mentioned that a significant number of women had been severely injured and there were many inflicted with waist paralysis.
“This is a condition rendering victim to a life long disability”, she said adding that some of them were also pregnant and were being looked after by local as well as foreign healthcare providers.
Dr Malik maintained that all those women and children who had been seriously injured with no one to rely on due to the loss of their respective families were the responsibility of the government and once discharged from hospitals would come directly under the care of the Federal Ministry of Social Welfare.
The federal government has also arranged a building with 500 beds to house the homeless women, she added.
To a query, the minister told that the children, including girls would only be handed over after identification and verification of their kith and kin.
Referring to her meeting with the Federal Minister for Social Welfare, Zubaida Jalal, and Nilofer Bakhtiar, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Women Affairs, the provincial minister reiterated that an elaborated strategy had been chalked out for the protection and rehabilitation of the destitute women and children.
The minister would be visiting Islamabad on Nov 15 for liaison with the Kennedy Foundation who has offered to provide artificial limbs for the disabled persons.
Sindh Secretary for Women Development Subhan Memon was also present on the occasion.—PPI/APP