KARACHI, May 7: Sindh Women Development Minister Dr Saeeda Malik has reiterated government commitment to ensure maximum implementation of laws protecting rights of women and provision of all safeguards and assistance to women subjected to atrocities.

The minister stated this during her visit to Hamida, inflicted with 60 per cent burns and currently under treatment at Civil Hospital Karachi, on Saturday. She gave her assurance that all legal, social and economic support would be provided to the victim by the government.

Dr Saeeda, accompanied by volunteers associated with government-run women crisis centre, assured the victim that her children would be put under care of her parents on immediate basis and her case would be pursued by lawyers of the Crisis Centre.

Acknowledging that treatment is being provided to Hamida free of cost, the minister assured the Civil Hospital MS Dr Kaleem Butt and the In charge of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Centre, Dr Shariq Ali, that all other relevant expenses would be borne by the Sindh Women Development Department.

Hamida, a mother of three children, was burnt by her husband in Larkana and brought in critical condition to the CHK a few days back.

Dr Shariq Ali informed the minister that the victim, suffering from facial and inhational burns with her lungs already affected, was relatively stable but needed extreme care to avoid any further complications. She was informed that burns treatment was an expensive mode of treatment and that even a person with 35 per cent burns required medication and care worth Rs6,000 to Rs8,000 per day, while average stay of a patient was 45 to 60 days.

Dr Saeeda Malik said that the government was committed to prevent such incidents and culprits would not be apprehended. “It is with the very purpose that crisis centres have been established in different parts of the province so that women subjected to any violence can immediately approach these centres personally or on toll free numbers,” she said.

With regard to Hamida, she said that all assistance would be provided to her including shelter and maximum rehabilitation. “We could have taken her children in our custody but as Hamida herself wanted her children to be taken care off by her parents, they are being delivered to them,” Dr Saeeda Malik said.

She also mentioned that her husband had already been arrested by Larkana police and the case would be pursued by the department in accordance to the rules and regulations.

—APP