Senate body for greater empowerment of women
By Mona Khan

ISLAMABAD—The Senate Standing Committee on Women Development called for creation of conditions to promote and facilitate greater empowerment of women through better education and employment opportunities with a view to bringing them into the mainstream of national life.
The Committee, which visited the Islamabad College for Girls F-6/2, here Thursday morning, also urged the Government to take further steps for enabling the women, which form more than half of the country’s population, play their due role in the society. ‘The current educational, social and economic backwardness of women constitute a major bottleneck, which is hampering their progress and development in all walks of life’, observed the Committee members.
The plight of women in the country presents a sad spectacle especially in the rural areas and therefore it is imperative that ways and means be adopted to improve their lot. The Committee also called upon the people to help improve the lot of women by bringing about a change in the traditional modes of thinking. The existing mindset and stereo types about women must change. These should be replaced with more progressive and enlightened ideas. Our women strata are endowed with immense potential and there is only a need to channelize that potential, said the Committee members.
‘This is high time to translate rhetoric into reality to promote the cause of women in the society’. The Committee recommended that more schemes be launched to overcome the social and economic backwardness of women. In this connection it emphasized the need for opening up new avenues for promoting literacy and education among the women.
The lady teachers urged the Committee members to take up the cause of working women in the country more strongly and especially to strive for better transport facilities and setting up of day care centers to facilitate working women. Endorsing the demands, the Senate Committee assured the teachers that it would extend its fullest support to get these problems solved at the earliest. Apart form the Chairperson of the Committee Senator Mrs. Tahira Latif, Senators Mrs. Razina Alam Khan, Mrs. Fauzia Fakhur-uz-Zaman, Dr. Mrs. Kauser Firdaus and Senator Ms. Sabina Rauf were present on the occasion.
On the issue of closure of Sabi-Hamai section, it was informed that the section was part of Sabi- Khost section of Pakistan section of Pakistan Railways, 133 Kilometers in length constructed in the 1930s and has since remained operational, with occasional closures.
There were two passenger trains per day and some freight trains for transportation of coal on this section, before it was closed in December-2005, when Bridge No. 94-P was struck by terrorists. This bridge was repaired within three days. As terrorists intensified their activities, another seven bridges were also damaged, which rendered the section unsuitable for train operation.
The Committee directed the Ministry of Railways to conduct the survey within one month’s time and to coordinate directly with the Frontier Constabulary for providing security so that the bridge may be repaired and traffic could be restored on the section. The Committee expressed its resolve to provide efficient and comfortable railway service to the passenger and to facilitate the movement of goods from various parts of the country.
The Committee met at the Parliament House under the chairmanship of Senator Kamil Ali Agha. The meeting constituted a Sub-Committee under the Convenership of Senator Abdul Ghaffar Qureshi to look into the issue of ‘Katchi Abadies’ and grant of ownership rights to the residents of Katchi Abadies on the Railways land. The Sub-Committee included Engineer Rashid Ahmed and Nawab Ayaz Jogezai as its Members.