KARACHI, Sept 4: The Sindh assembly was informed on Thursday that the government was considering setting up separate courts for women, but the house rejected a resolution asking the government to reserve 33 per cent job opportunities for women in government departments.

Speaker Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, who presided over the session that began at 11.25am, adjourned the house at 2.05pm to meet at 9am on Friday.

It was a private members’ day, declared by the chair in lieu of Tuesday that was taken up by the budget session. Besides the two resolutions of the five on the order of the day, the other business covered during the session was the question hour and over a dozen points of order.

During the question hour, Law Minister Ayaz Soomro informed the house that the government was considering setting up separate women’s courts, for which women judges would be appointed in grade18. These would be in addition to the speedy trial and proposed evening courts.

He also said that hardship cases of women -- orphans, widows or destitute -- would be pursued free by the people’s lawyers’ forum on the recommendation of the women’s development department.

Reacting to this, Speaker Khuhro remarked: “This would be a revolutionary step towards the dispensation of justice and it will benefit the people.”

On a suggestion of Marvi Rashdi of the PML-F, Minister Tauqir Fatima Bhutto said that a women MPAs committee was being formed to take care of women-specific issues.

Earlier, the assembly rejected a resolution recommending to the government to reserve 33 per cent job opportunities for women in each federal and provincial government department. The house, however, allowed the mover to withdraw the resolution which demanded that the next NFC award be on the basis of revenue collection.

Speaking in support of her resolution for reserving 33 per cent seats for women in the government departments, Nusrat Bano Sehar Abbasi of the PML-F said the west had made progress after giving more than 50 per cent representation to women in their institutions. She said Islam had given equal rights to women, but women were being compelled to make sacrifices on one account or another.

She said Fatima Jinnah, Raana Liaquat Ali Khan, Lady Nusrat Haroon and in recent history Benazir Bhutto had proved that women were equally capable of delivering in each and every department as one could find very good women pilots, engineers, doctors, etc.

The PPP, a major party in the country and till recently headed by Benazir Bhutto, was in power and if it reserved a 33 per cent quota for women, it would add a golden chapter to the history of the country.

The treasury benches opposed the resolution on the plea that the principle of equality of genders called for making merit the sole criterion for jobs. They recalled the PPP’s contribution to promoting women in every walk of life. They said Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was the first ruler to reserve 10 per cent parliament seats for women in the 1973 constitution.

Shazia Marri said women in Pakistan were more conscious politically than in the United States. “Don’t limit your skills and potential to reserved seats. Rather, let merit be given recognition in every field of life,” she said.

Sassui Palejo said that in an ideal situation, she would have demanded 52 per cent share in jobs for women. But in our society, in a third world country, the literacy rate was too low to warrant such a distinction.

Shehla Raza said it was a dream of the late Benazir Bhutto to allocate a 20 per cent quota for women and Prime Minister Gilani in his Aug 14 address had also pledged to raise the women’s job quota to 20 per cent, and that she also backed it.

Rafique Engineer referred to Articles 25, 27 and 34 of the constitution, which, he said, were against discrimination in any form. Instead of adopting the resolution, an amendment was required in the constitution for a preferential treatment to women.

Arif Mustafa Jatoi of the NPP and Rafique Bhanbhan of the PML-F supported the resolution, pointing out that there was representation of women in the local government institutions, provincial and national assemblies and the senate and if the jobs were reserved in the government institutions, it would be a good idea as women in villages could not compete with men for jobs.

Rashida Panhwar of the PPP suggested that the job quota for women be made 50 per cent. Syed Bachal Shah and Sardar Ahmad Ali Pitafi said a decision be taken after due consideration in view of the role of women in our society.

Shoaib Bokhari and Alim-ur-Rehman said women on their merit were heading many departments. In the Civil Hospital Karachi, they said, five important departments were being headed by women doctors. By demanding a 33 per cent quota, women underestimated their potential. If they were capable, no one could deny them their deserved place in jobs.

Winding up the discussion, Law Minister Ayaz Soomro recalled the PPP services in promoting the cause of women. He said the first woman deputy speaker of the national assembly, Dr Ashraf Abbasi, and the first woman prime minister of the Muslim world, Benazir Bhutto, were elected from the PPP platform. But they were all on merit and even now the PPP was prepared to offer 100 per cent jobs on merit basis.

He also recalled that the present PPP government had announced that it would allot agricultural land to women growers, appoint women DSPs, grade 18 civil judges and grade 20 additional sessions judges, and also planned to appoint women with BE degrees as engineers on a priority basis.

When the resolution was put to the vote by the speaker, it was rejected by voice votes.

NFC award