National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza Monday said the International Islamic Women Police Conference would serve as a milestone towards drawing more women in the law enforcement agencies at all levels and their increased number in the peacekeeping. Addressing the 2nd International Islamic Women Police Conference here, she said that the life of Benazir Bhutto was a beacon for women across the world and, in particular, for the Muslim women. “Her enormous contribution and sacrifices for democracy and women rights are relentless and highly inspirational. Since the return of People’s Party government, significant legislative measures are being taken through introducing women friendly legislation and policies,” she observed.
She said one of the significant measures in that direction was dedicating a minimum of 10% job quota for women across the board. She further added that the Women’s Parliamentary Caucus had undertaken various initiatives to pursue their agenda of women empowerment and one of these was to reviewing the state of women police stations in the country. Interior Secretary KM Siddiq Akbar said the efforts were underway to improve the role and contribution of women in policing and remove the structural and cultural barriers in that regard He said the vision behind organising the Monday’s conference was to hold useful dialogue among the participating countries for moving forward and stimulating actions to improve the role and status of women in policing in the Islamic world.
The conference was organized by Interior Ministry in collaboration with the Gender Responsive Policing Project, funded by the German foreign office.
German Ambassador Dr Michael Koch said their cooperation with the government of Pakistan in promoting good governance was of strategic importance for Germany’s overall development works in Pakistan. “We would like to see this partnership grow with visible outcomes and a greater impact on the lives of women, men, girls and boys alike. It’s a pleasure to note that Gender Responsive Policing project is taking strategic steps to extend the boundaries of police alliances beyond Pakistan,” he added.
He said the international conference offered an excellent opportunity especially for the women police officers from all the participating countries to think about the issues of gender equality among the police institutions in their respective countries. International events like GRP-IW 2011 could raise the profile of women police and help achieve the goal of advancing gender responsiveness in policing, he added.
Gender Responsive Policing Project Principal Advisor Dr Khola Iram said the moot envisioned a convergence of the Islamic world aimed at advancing gender equality through participation, leadership, and action of women in policing.
