HYDERABAD, March 12: The government’s keenness to empower women is evident from the fact that they have been given representation in parliament and the local government. Education is the only means through which awareness is created among female population and it goes a long way in contributing to development of a society.

This was the unanimous understanding among the scholars who spoke at a workshop on “Legal status of women in Pakistan’ at the Institute of Women Development Studies, University of Sindh on Monday.

Mehtab Akbar Rashidi, ex-secretary, government of Sindh, presided the session and former law minister Shahida Jamil was the chief guest.

Ms Rashidi while lauding the struggle of women said that it was shameful to read news about honour killing almost daily, adding that it was not only females but males too suffer the same fate. Lack of education was major reason behind the prevailing outdated traditions, she said.

Barrister Jamil said that the Islam had given due rights to women and appreciated the steps taken by the government, adding: “About 152 women in parliament and 32,000 in local governments have been provided the opportunity of leadership.”

“Woman of today does not feel weak as she has a platform and elected voice given to her by the constitution,” she added.

Dr Rafia Ahmed, Dean, faculty of social sciences, said that it was unfortunate that today many rights endowed to women by Islam had been usurped by the tribal customs and cultural beliefs, while people took refuge behind perceived religious traditions and laws for honour killings which tantamount to murder.

Dr Parveen Shah said the low literacy rate was major cause of unawareness among women of their legal rights.

Zia Awan said that educationists and youth could play role in the betterment of womenfolk.

Humera Alwani MPA, Ayaz Latif Palijo, Fiza Qureshi, Zulfiqar Halepoto and others stressed on the empowerment of women through education.

Certificates awarded: Concluding ceremony of the `rock mechanics design in mining and civil engineering’ — a postgraduate level course — was held on Monday at the Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro.

The course was organised by the Department of Mining and sponsored by the Higher Education Commission under the British Commission Joint Higher Education Linkage Programme. About 57 were awarded certificates.

Professor Dr Abdul Ghani Pathan, coordinator of the course said that the department of mining engineering of Mehran University has conceived a programme for the development of coal mining projects at Thar with indigenous efforts.

He said this will be done by launching PhD projects with the collaboration of the Nottingham University, UK Rock Mechanics. The course was delivered by a renowned professor R.N. Singh from Nottingham, who appreciated the efforts of mining engineering department.

He said that the Nottingham University had conducted the course which was part of a three-year collaboration programme between the MUET and the Nottingham University in the field of rock mechanics.

Professor Dr Mohammad Rafique Abro, Dean, faculty of engineering and electrical electronics and computer system engineering, welcomed the participants of the course.

Dr Mohammad Ali Shah, chairman department of mining engineering highlighted the salient features of 18-days course. Dr Shah thanked professor Singh for delivering most informative and knowledgeable lectures.

Nabeel Alvi of the British Consulate Karachi also spoke on the occasion. A large number of educationists, professors, teachers, officers and concerned engineers attended the concluding ceremony.