Declaring the Police Act of 1861 as anti-people, Sultan Azam Taimuri, the assistant inspector general (Operations), said Wednesday that Pakistan had inherited that act from the Britain and unfortunately it was still intact without the slightest change and it must be repealed. Referring to the implementation of various laws, he said that in order to show their performance, station house officers usually downplay the number of cases registered in their precincts. He said that the practice also called as ‘burking’ should be eliminated.
He expressed these views while speaking at the National Consultation on Gender Based Legislation and Issues of Implementation. The event was organised by Aurat Foundation’s Legislative Watch Programme for Women’s Empowerment to address the issues of implementation of recently enacted legislation on women’s rights. National Police Academy Projects Director Helena Saeed was of the view that women had specific needs but those specific needs of working women were not being addressed. She said the same was the case with the police department whose needs were never fully met. She said the women working in the police department were not being provided the “enabling” environment. She regretted that the gender biases still existed in the police department. In order to end these gender biases, she said, alls such biases must be ended courageously.
Speaking on the occasion, Justice (retd) Shaiq Usmani regretted that the Pakistani courts and particularly the lower courts still had strong prejudices against women, which could surely influence the courts proceedings in all the cases involving women’s family affairs and inheritance.
Referring to the Qisas and Diyat Ordinance, he said though the severest and sudden provocations had been excluded from that, but the superior judiciary, perhaps under some prejudices towards women, was still following that as an option.
Malakand Police DIG IQazi Jamil-ur-Rehman, while discussing the hurdles in the smooth implementation of the women-specific laws, said most of cases involving women were not registered for various reasons including gender biases. Highlighting the role of civil society, Valarie Khan, the Acid Survivor Foundation chairperson, said that around two hundred cases of acid throwing were reported in Pakistan each year. And most of those cases are reported from southern Punjab, she added.
She said that apart from the awareness campaigns, a perfect legislation was very much required in that regard. She also emphasised the need for an easy access of acid burn victims to urgent treatment facilities. She also stressed the need to place a better accountability mechanism to eradicate violence against women.
ETHNOMEDIA Executive Director Samar Minalah raised the issues of swara, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (vani and sung chati in Punjab and Sindh respectively). She gave a presentation from her documentaries showing the plight the victims of such ancient tribal practices. She called for a change in the social mindset and said the role of a vibrant civil society was a must for that.
Senator Nilofar Bakhtiar assured the civil society members and women’s rights activists of her full cooperation if there were a need for any amendment in the recently introuded women rights bills.
She also proposed the formation of a ‘women parliamentarian commission for laws implementation’, which, she said, might have the powers to “summon” any institution concerned.
