The negligence of women in Pakistan can be judged with the fact that around 10 million women are not registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) due to the fact that these women have not been registered with Nadra.
National Commission on Status of Women (NCSW) in co-ordination with USAID and Aurat Foundation organised a ceremony here to highlight the research studies conducted by the Commission titled, "Appraisal of the capacities of Women Development Departments (WDDs) at provincial level", "Shelter/Crisis Centres & Gender Crime Cell", "Assessment of Disaster Management Institutions and Development of a Gender Responsive Preparedness Plan", and "Reporting, Investigation Safety and Security of the Victims from the Police Perspective".
NCSW Chairperson Anees Haroon, a civil activist Aafia Zia; a researcher on women issues, Imdad Hussain; Dr Riffat, Anushay Rehman Khan, MNA, Dr Ayesha Sadeeqa, a Defence analyst were among the participants. The participants said the main issue was that police stations lacked of training of the Moharrars (who register First Information Reports (FIRs); moral judgments of the police about women complaints; delays in FIRs registration; false reporting of the GBV cases; little impact of training on police; and absence of unified training for police caders.
"Pakistan lacks the research activities. The women in the country are so bright that more than 60 percent bills in Parliament have been tabled by the women in the Parliament", Anees Haroon revealed. She said police stations across the country faced shortage of the staff and the available manpower was mostly untrained. The police usually submit Challans of cases quite late.
The police, the prosecutors, the lawyers, the judges usually have discriminatory attitudes against women complaints. The women victims of violence (WVoV), interviewed in this research, reported numerous incidents of violence against them by the police. The WVoV also reported they were treated badly by the doctors and medico-legal officers during the medical examination.
Anees said that NCSW was authorised to make recommendations to amend, abolish or repeal such laws, policies and customary practices which undermined and denied the fundamental rights and dignified status to women and minorities in Pakistan. She deliberated upon the role of NCSW, especially after the introduction of 18th amendment to the Constitution.
Anushay said Punjab government had approved a Women Empowerment Package 2012 according to which establishment of Women Crisis and Rehabilitation helpdesks at district level for legal, psychological and basic health referral services would be ensured. Also the women quota would be increased upto 15 percent in public service employment.
Dr Riffat revealed that the law colleges' curriculum should be changed; police training curriculum should be amended; the activities in the training should focus more on resolving practical puzzles. Dr Ayesha Siddiqa said that those research studies would provide a basis to address those problems and to work towards their resolution for the uplift of women. "We need to change the mindsets of the people in society to bring forward any positive change. There is dire need to implement the laws made for the protection of the women", Ayesha said. She added that the women empowerment should be there while radicalisation should be reduced to the minimum.