KARACHI, March 1: Speakers at a seminar on Saturday urged women to join hands and launch a joint struggle to get their due rights which have been given to them by the religion as well as the constitution but which have been denied to them by society.

The seminar on “The continuing plight of Pakistani women — why has the announced women’s development policy not yet been implemented”, was organized by the Karachi Women’s Peace Committee (KWPC) in connection with the International Women’s Day at the Arts Council of Pakistan.

The speakers urged the government not to extend any support to the possible US aggression against Iraq. They also condemned a Sindh minister for supporting Karo-kari, which the government has said that it would be treated as a murder case.

Sindh Minister for Women Development Dr Saeeda Malik, Begum Tazeen Faridi of APWA, Zarine Aziz of the First Women’s Bank, Fareha Razak Haroon (MPA), Nargis Rehman of the KWPC, Charmine Hidayatullah, Zeba Bakhtiyar, Farida Abbasi, Mehrunnisa Kolachi, Ameena and others also spoke at the seminar, conducted by Jahanara Hai.

Dr Malik said that Pakistan was a signatory to the United Nations Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women and was making efforts to bring its laws in conformity with the international commitment.

Referring to a point raised by a speaker, the minister said that she was against all discriminatory laws and whenever it came under discussion in the assembly she would play her role to safeguard the rights of women.

She urged the parliamentarians, particularly the women MPAs, to rise above their party affiliations and take a unified stand whenever issues relating to women were discussed in the house.

Earlier, a speaker, who is also a member of the federal government’s commission on women, said that the commission had formed a committee which reviewed all discriminatory laws and found that majority of them were not fully in accordance with the religion. She said that the commission had sent its recommendations to the government which would take the final decision.

The other speakers said that many commissions in the past too had submitted their recommendations on how the status of women could be improved, but none of the successive governments implemented any of the recommendations, due to which women were still being victimised.

They said that some relief had been provided to women by the previous government, as after some recent amendments to the constitution, women could now get Khula (a woman’s right to divorce) comparatively easily through courts.

They said that due to the lacunas in the laws and delayed and lengthy investigation and prosecution procedures, the rate of convictions in rape cases was very low.

One of the speakers urged women to approach the First Women’s Bank, which not only provided loans but also imparted training to women in various fields of trade and marketing.

A day-long mela was also organized to celebrate the International Women’s Day where numerous stalls had been set up.

A large number of women visited the stalls, selling embroidery, handicraft, shoes, dresses, gift items, decoration pieces and books, etc.

Khana-i-Farhang and the Japan Cultural Centre had also set up two stalls in which handicrafts and other items, depicting the cultures of the two countries, were on display.

The Sindh government would observe the Intentional Women Day on March 8 at Ghotki, in which women from all walks of life would be invited.

Dr Malik said Chief Minister Ali Mohammad Mahar would be the chief guest on the occasion, adds APP.

About 40 to 50 women artisans would set up their stalls to display their products, she said, adding that the government was making efforts to market the products of women artisans.