Govt committed to protecting women from inequality: Zardari

President Asif Zardari on Thursday said the government was committed to protecting women from all kinds of exploitation and discrimination.
In his message on the International Women’s Day being observed worldwide, the president said it demonstrated that women everywhere were waking up.
“On this occasion I wish to congratulate the women of the world in general and of Pakistan in particular and salute them for their struggle for emancipation and an end to discrimination,” he said.
President Zardari said, “In this struggle we are inspired by the teachings of our religion, the dictates of our constitution and the vision of our founding father Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah as well as of our great leaders Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto.”
He said Benazir Bhutto (BB), the first woman premier in the Muslim world and the twice elected PM of the country, felt a special responsibility towards promoting the cause of the women.
He said by asserting that women’s rights were inseparable from human rights and that there was no human right more fundamental and more universal than equal rights for women in the new century, BB laid down a firm basis on which the future edifice of women empowerment was to be built. The president said driven by conviction and inspired by the vision of its leaders, the government had enacted far reaching reforms for protecting women from harassment on the one hand and empowering the poorest of the poor women through the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) on the other.
He mentioned that the Women in Distress and Detention Fund Act 2011 had been enacted to provide financial and legal assistance to women in distress. Also, a National Commission on Status of Women had been set up to protect the social, economic, political and legal rights of women and job quota for women in government services enhanced, he added.
President Zardari reiterated to pursue the pledges made by Benazir Bhutto at the Beijing Conference on elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.
He called upon all political parties and civil society to revisit the laws discriminatory to women and propose suitable amendments to extricate women from the agony and embarrassment of discriminatory laws and customs.
He acknowledged the strides made by women in their forward march towards gender equality.
“Let us further build on their progress and collective power to help make our country, the region and the world more tolerant, harmonious and secure,” he said.
The President said, “With courageous girls like Malala Yousufzai among them, our women are fated to succeed against all odds.”
He congratulated the Ministry of Human Rights for arranging special events to celebrate the day in a befitting manner.