ISLAMABAD, Sept 13: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on Wednesday took the PML’s parliamentary party into confidence on the government’s efforts to reach consensus on women’s rights bill.

The prime minister said the government was committed to safeguarding the rights of women and providing justice and security to them by bringing laws in conformity with injunctions of Quran and Sunnah.

The meeting discussed the legislative agenda, developments relating to the bill and other legislations.

Earlier, the prime minister held an interaction with cabinet members and briefed them on his visit to Afghanistan and his meeting with President Hamid Karzai. Chaudhry Shujaat and some legislators also attended the meeting.

He said the government was committed to economic, political and social empowerment of women, adding that no country could progress without women’s participation in the development process.

He said various steps had been taken for empowerment of women, including setting up of the National Commission on Women, increasing women’s quota in central superior services, amending laws to release women imprisoned in minor crimes, declaring honour killing as murder and reservation of seats for women in local governments, provincial assemblies and parliament.

The prime minister said the government’s commitment to empowerment of women was linked to staying within our religious, cultural and social values.