HYDERABAD, Dec 10: The speakers at a workshop on Role of legislators regarding Karo-kari and torture against women, held here on Tuesday, called for strict legislation to contain such incidents.
The workshop was organized by the Citizens’ Action Committee for Women Rights and the Sindh Development Society in collaboration with the Aurat Foundation at the press club to mark the International Human Rights Day.
The workshop called for legislation against Karo- Kari killing and for investigation of cases of violence against women by a committee, consisting of journalists, human rights activists and lawyers.
It also demanded to declare domestic violence a cognizable offence, to provide special training to police officials investigating cases of violence against women, to limit discretionary powers of judges to give maximum and minimum punishments to culprits, and to establish district level cells, comprising lawyers working for human rights.
The workshop also demanded that the accused, cited in the Shahnaz Jatoi murder case, should be given an exemplary punishment.
The speakers at the workshop included MNA Shamshad Sattar Bachani, Latifabad taluka Nazim Abdul Jabbar Khan, lawyers Ayaz Latif Palijo and M. Parkash, Safina Javed, Dr Fozia Ansari and others.
Ayaz Latif called for legislation against forced conversion of women of minority community on the ground that the girls of Kohli and Bheel communities were forced to embrace Islam after they were kidnapped in order to marry them.
He said that a kidnapped Muslim girl or women could rejoin her family but in case of such a minority woman, it was next to impossible for her.
He referred to false cases of Zina Hudood Ordinance and said that a committee should be appointed to approve the registration of such cases, as the supposedly kidnapped women often surfaced with their husbands.
Similarly, he said, in cases of conversion, a committee, comprising a judicial magistrate and a religious leader, must verify facts whether the woman had volunteered herself for conversion.
He urged the MNAs and the MPAs to take these issues seriously and legislate to control such incidents and added that in the past, in four cases of criminal assault or violence against women, MPAs and MNAs were involved.
Councillor Naseem Rajput said that when she raised voice against sexual abuse of children, she was asked to concentrate on cleanliness of her area.
RALLY: Human rights activists staged a rally outside the press club here on Tuesday to observe the International Human Rights Day.
The rally was organized by the National Commission for Justice and Peace and participated by the activists of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, the Council for Social Unity, the Sindh Development Society, the National Alliance for Joint Electorate, the Muslim-Masihi Rabita Commission, the Liberal Forum, Asr and the Organization for Human Development, Justice and Peace.
A large number of women also attended the rally.
SEMINAR: A seminar was also organized at the Orient Centre by the Fundamental Rights Commission of Pakistan to mark the International Human Rights Day.
The speakers at the seminar included, Syed Shoaib Shibli, Abdul Jabbar Rehmani, Mehmood Qureshi and others.
KHAIRPUR: A walk was held under the aegis of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan to mark the International Human Rights Day on Tuesday.
The walk started from the Civic Centre and ended in front of the press club.
Later, a seminar was held in front of the press club where the speakers criticized the police attitude towards the public.
They alleged that police was torturing more and more people day by day and there was none to question the police regarding it.
LARKANA: The speakers at a seminar on human rights, held here on Tuesday, stressed the need for protesting against increasing incidents of human rights violation in the world.
The Earth Lovers Society and the Organization for Peace, Social Welfare and Education jointly organized the seminar to mark the International Human Rights Day.
SUKKUR: The Human Rights Society of Pakistan, Sindh chapter, in its annual report of 2002 has described it as a year of violation of human rights.
Chairman Abdul Tahir Ansari, in his report issued on Tuesday, said that a woman fell victim to violence or was physically assaulted every three hours.
The report said that 80 million people were illiterate and the population over the age of 10 years consisted of 55 per cent illiterate. It said that 40 per cent children lacked food, over 40 million people were living under the poverty line, 20 million people were jobless, and another 20,000 had been forced to lose their jobs.
MIRPURKHAS: A seminar was organized by the Citizens’ Action Committee at the Citizens Gymkhana on Tuesday to mark International Human Rights Day.
The seminar adopted several resolutions demanding setting up of a women’s jail at Mirpurkhas, immediate legal action against those sugar mills who had failed to start crushing, lifting of ban over using of school management committee funds, vacating occupied health department buildings from the police, cancellation of deputation of doctors, and stopping violence against women in the district.
Speaking at the seminar, the district police officer, Mirpurkhas, Mohammad Amin Yousufzai, said that all-out efforts were being made to recover hostages from the captivity of dacoits.