Former President Zardari calls for removing impediments in the way of National Commission on the Status of Women

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On the eve of international women day on March 8 former President Asif Ali Zardari has called upon the government to remove the impediments in the way of smooth functioning of the National Commission on the Status of Women to enable it function freely and effectively for the purposes for which it was set up to protect the social, economic, political and legal rights of women.

We also call for meaningful progress in honoring the pledges made by Pakistan at the Beijing Conference on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) for an end to discrimination against women, he said. The former President said this in a message on the eve of international women day being observed throughout the world on March 8. Mr. Asif Ali Zardari said that the previous coalition government of the PPP and its allies enacted far reaching legislation to provide for a completely independent and autonomous National Commission on Status of Women and called for removal of all impediments in its way to function freely and effectively.

On this occasion I wish to reiterate the commitment of the Pakistan Peoples Party to the emancipation of women and their protection from all kinds of exploitation and discrimination, he said. The former President said that the Party also denounces once again obscurantism, extremism and militant elements who seek to perpetuate discrimination against women in the name of religion.

Guided by the vision of our great leaders Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto as well as the Constitution of Pakistan the Party will never allow these regressive elements to impose their anti-women agenda on the people of Pakistan, he said. The observance of the International Women Day today is a proof that women everywhere are waking up he said and congratulated the women of the world in general and of Pakistan in particular for their struggle to put to end discrimination. Our leader Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto believed that there was no human right more fundamental, and more universal, than equal rights for women. It was this vision that led her to sign the CEDAW despite opposition of obscurantist elements and it this philosophy that is guiding the Party in seeking to rebuild the structure ofwomen empowerment in the country. The former President also congratulated the women of Pakistan for their struggle. “I also wish to acknowledge the great strides made by our women in their forward march towards gender equality and towards making Pakistan more tolerant, harmonious and secure”, Mr Asif Ali Zardari said.