LOWER DIR: Speakers at a seminar here on Saturday said that reproductive health was a fundamental human right of everyone.

They said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Reproductive Healthcare Rights, 2020, was passed to facilitate, ensure and improve the reproductive health issues pertaining to couples. They said that the Act ensured elimination of discrimination against women.

The seminar was organised by population welfare department in collaboration with Timergara campus of Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan to sensitise students, academia and faculty members about the law.

Seminar held in Dir to sensitise varsity students and teachers about the law

The campus coordinator, Dr Minhajud Din, was chief guest, district population welfare officer Shahid Khan was co-chief guest while deputy district population officer Kinan Pasha was the resource person of the session.

Speaking on the occasion, Kinan Pasha said the Act was passed to facilitate, ensure and improve the reproductive health issues pertaining to couples. He said that reproductive health was a fundamental human right of everyone.

“It was intrinsic to our right to life, freedom, choice, confidential education and highest level of reproductive health without any discrimination, coercion and practice of violence,” he said.

Shahid Khan said that the Act implied a wide range of issues including family planning; maternal health and newborn health care; prevention, diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV, adolescents reproductive health (ARH), cervical cancer screening, infertility prevention and management of the services aimed at preventing poor reproductive health such as complication of pregnancy and childbirth, unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortion complications caused by STIs violence and denying from avoidable cancer.

AKF: The Al-Khidmat Foundation (AKF) on Saturday announced its plan to collect hides of sacrificial animals and provide poor families with meat on Eidul Adha in the district.

Speaking at different meetings, AKF district president Hafeezullah Khaksar said that 100 animals would be slaughtered at three different points to provide meat to about 15,000 deserving families on Eid day.

He said that two committees were formed to collect hides of animals. He said that about 28 per cent families were unable to arrange sacrificial animals due to skyrocketing prices and inflation.

DEMAND: The members of the local chapter of Branch Postmasters Association on Saturday refused to distribute posts from their branches as a protest against the government for its failure to pay their salaries.

Talking to journalists in Timergara, they said that postmasters had not been getting salaries for the last one year. The association’s representatives Zafaryab, Sardaraz Khan, Rehmatullah and Nafees Ahmad said that a branch postmaster got only Rs1,560 per month salary that too was stopped in July, 2022.

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2023