President General Pervez Musharraf on Saturday said the government was doing all for women's emancipation and is determined to proceed on these lines in the time ahead. "Pakistan is going up, and this upward swing could not be altered," he told a packed hall of Pakistani-American women in a local hotel.
Musharraf pointed out a number of steps taken to emancipate women, and added: "Pakistan is moving forward in the fields of economy, poverty alleviation, provision of job opportunities and socio-cultural uplift."
The President said women had been accorded historic representation in Pakistan right from the union councils to the level of the parliament.
He cited enactment's on gender inequality, setting up of a commission for women's welfare, action plan for women's uplift, national fund for rural area women, efforts aimed at curbing violence against women, adoption of a bill against gender inequality, and extension of legal aid to violence victims.
Musharraf said the media enjoys total freedom, and any incidents against women are brought to the notice of readers, and that the government is sympathetic to the cause of women and was determined to effect a change, "which, in fact, has solidly done."
"I would not be wrong if say that in the past six years, we have done more than what has been accomplished during the earlier 52 years," he said.
The President said those who claimed to be champions of women's rights during the past, had done nothing remarkable for women, and challenged those who entertained a different claim.
He commended the efforts of the ministry of women affairs, particularly in respect of violence against women. "I stand totally on the side of women in their struggle against violence and gender inequality."
At the outset, the President outrightly rejected the remarks attributed to him regarding rape and asylum-seekers, published in a section of the Press.
The news item read that "the best way to get asylum abroad is to project oneself as a rape victim."
"These are not my words, these are words of someone else," the President said, adding he could not be so unwise to utter such obnoxious things. "I was misquoted," he categorically stated.
Meanwhile, a demonstration planned by some groups hostile to Pakistan on violence against women drew a poor response from activists as no more than two dozen people, including Indians, turned up.
The demonstration failed to attract people while inside the Roosevelt Hotel President Musharraf strongly projected steps taken by Pakistan for women empowerment.
Pakistani-American women, attending the conference, termed the demonstration inappropriate, saying such moves damage the country's image.
The representative of a local human rights organisation said the organiser of the rally, the Asian-American Network Against Abuse of Women, has a large Indian membership a factor that influences its decisions.