LARKANA/SUKKUR: The Sindh Human Rights Commission’s chairman Iqbal Detho has said the commission will launch a campaign soon to encourage women to join police force and help resolve women-related issues amicably.

Detho told journalists at the Larkana Press Club after presiding over a meeting at deputy commissioner’s office in Larkana on Thursday that currently, SHRC was handling six blasphemy cases in Larkana and Shikarpur.

Despite clear orders issued by Sindh High Court to exercise extra caution in registering such cases, police were unfortunately filing the cases under pressure, he said.

He hit out ‘full fry’ and ‘half fry’ trend in police and said the commission was trying to bring back special women’s jail and juvenile prison to Larkana. The facilities were shifted to Sukkur on the pretext of repairs of Larkana central prison and probably because of that women were not produced in courts for months, he said.

The SHRC would ensure visitation rights of the inmates whereas the legal aid committees would be activated to provide legal facilities to them. A sizable number of small children were living with their mothers in the women’s jail and it required concrete measures to ensure the children’s mental and physical growth, he said.

Flanked by Ayub Khoso, famous TV artist and member of SHRC, Mr Detho said that there was no Darul Itfal (children’s shelter) in Larkana neither any centre for old citizens.

He said that Darul Itfal was essential to provide security to children and in this context he referred to services of late Anwar Khokhar who had devoted his entire life towards serving the children who were separated from their parents for one or the other reason.

Recalling his visit to Giddu psychiatric hospital in Hyderabad, he said that elderly people were left at the facility there by their families after getting them declared as mentally ill, though they actually required psychological support. There was no shelter for the elderly in Hyderabad and Larkana and SHRC had written to the government asking to establish such centres, he said.

He said that a new committee would be formed to look into the issues of Darul Aman and ensure legal aid. “We are trying to arrange a festival in the Darul Aman. We don’t have any provision of law for providing protection to the women who come to the Darul Aman directly,” he said.

SHRC duo visits Shikarpur

Mr Detho and Khoso visited district jail and RBUT Civil Hospital in Shikarpur and inspected state of facilities for the inmates.

According to a handout, the duo along with SHRC’s legal team inspected barracks and met with prisoners at district jail and rehabilitation centre and suggested to the jail authorities to commence sports activities for prisoners and ensure their visitation rights.

They met with members of civil society and told them that the commission would organise seminars to identify and resolve local problems, strengthen human rights defenders, social activists, improve networking to raise human rights issues at local level such as kidnappings, deteriorating law and order and kidnapping for ransom cases, street crime and gender- and children-related issues.

The SHRC chairman promised in a meeting with father of an abducted child, Waleed Memon, that the commission would support him for the safe release of his child and also other kidnapped children.

Later, the SHRC duo visited RBUT Civil Hospital and pointed out several deficiencies, which included; shortage of staffs, inadequate facilities and equipment and budgetary constraints, which marred the facility’s performance.

They said the hospital could improve healthcare service by enhancing patient services, expediting recruitment process to fill vacant positions, developing partnerships with medical universities, upgrading infrastructure and equipment and prioritizing budget allocation.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2024