ISLAMABAD, Nov 27: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said that the women’s rights protection bill will be enforced throughout the country at all costs. Talking to media personnel at the PM’s Secretariat after attending the fourth Altaf Gauhar Memorial Lecture on Monday, the prime minister rejected statements by the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal’s NWFP government about resisting enforcement of the bill in the province.

"The bill is aimed at protecting the rights of women and no one can stop its implementation in all the provinces," he said.

He said no political party or provincial government had the right to do politicise the matter. "No one should make it a political issue," he said.

The prime minister said the bill would stand implemented in all parts of the country after President Pervez Musharraf gave assent to it.

"There is no question of non-implementation of the bill or any of its parts in any province or part of the country,” Mr Aziz said."We will enact more legislations to protect the rights of women in various sections of the society," the prime minister said in reply to a question about threats by the MMA.

He said Pakistan Muslim League chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain had moved a comprehensive bill covering other aspects of injustices to women.

"Our government is engaged in spearheading the process of ensuring protection of and providing maximum rights to women,” said the premier.

The parliamentary affairs ministry has sent the women’s protection bill to the Aiwan-i-Sadr, seeking the president's assent after its passage by the Senate and the National Assembly.

The president is likely to sign the bill in a couple of days and the government has decided that all the pending cases falling in its ambit would be dealt with under the new legislation.