The Senate Standing Committee on women's development came hard on the Finance Ministry for delaying release of the development funds. Speaking at the Committee meeting held on Monday, Tahira Latif, the Chair, blamed lengthy bureaucratic hurdles in release of development funds, hindering the women division in filling the vacant posts.
The Chair feared that if the funds were not released in time during the last quarter of the fiscal the money would lapse. She was also furious that the rules for obtaining funds were cumbersome, obsolete and time-consuming. Ostensibly, the lengthy rules worked against reducing the Ministry's capacity to undertake projects for empowering them to participate in social, educational and economic development.
Hence, in order to achieve optimum results, the Standing Committee called for immediate restructuring of the ministry. "It must deliver the national policy to make it good for women, who constitute more than 50 percent of the population, so that they are not kept away from the mainstream but rapidly move ahead in the society."
In this regard, and because the finance ministry is mostly staffed with males, the meeting called for zero tolerance for violence against women. It said hindrance in the way of physical and mental advancement of womenfolk should be considered a bane.
The Committee also appealed for providing women greater employment opportunities and called for establishing more centres for distressed women, especially in rural areas.
Earlier, the meeting received a presentation from the planning and monitoring cell of the ministry, including one on 'Tawana Pakistan' as well as on new projects reflected in the National Plan of Action and on other women development related issues. The meeting was informed that while implementing these projects, the ministry co-ordinates with provincial women development departments, as well as private and corporate sector.
Members of the Committee also visited the Shelter Home for Women in Distress, in Sector H-8/1, and observed the centre's operation in providing relief to distressed women, increasing public awareness against women violence as well as giving vocational training and psychological counselling to distressed women. One of the measures the centre has advocated is that lawyers are encouraged to plead free of charge on behalf of women involved in litigation.
Razina Alam Khan, Semeen Siddiqui, Fauzia Fakhar-uz-Zaman, Rukhsana Zuberi, Rubina Rauf, Nawab Muhammad Ayaz Khan Jogezai and Secretary Women Ministry attended the meeting.