ISLAMABAD – The government is committed to providing a level playing field to the women for their economic empowerment, enabling them to play a positive role in the country’s development, adviser to the prime minister on women development Nilofar Bakhtiar said.

She was speaking at the concluding session of a course on victimology and family crimes, organized for women police officers at the Federal Investigation Agency’s academy in Islamabad on May 7.

The course has been conducted with the assistance of US Department of Justice. American ambassador Nancy Powell was also present on the occasion. The adviser expressed hopes that the women officers would play an important role in minimizing the rate of crime against women in Pakistan.

She said the government was keen to remove discriminatory laws against women, and necessary legislation to this effect would be made to give economic empowerment to them.

She stressed the need to use all available resources for the betterment of women in the country. This, she said, would only be possible if the relevant policies were implemented in true spirit and all stakeholders shared their responsibilities to yield positive results.

Ms. Bakhtiar said under these circumstances, women police officers faced a dual challenge. They need to win the confidence of women and conduct investigations professionally without causing further embarrassment to the victims.

Source: Dawn

Date:5/8/2004