President Dr Arif Alvi has underscored the need for taking measures to improve the status of women, provide them employment opportunities and enabling working-environment to increase their economic participation. He highlighted that our religion Islam granted property rights to women and it was our responsibility to give them their due share and create a safer society for them.
The President expressed these views while chairing a meeting during his visit to the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat for Protection Against Harassment at Workplace (FOSPAH) Head Office, in Islamabad, today. Federal Ombudsperson for Protection Against Harassment at Workplace, Ms Fauzia Viqar, Secretary FOSPAH, Mr Arif Karim, advisors and officials of FOSPAH attended the meeting.
Ms Fauzia Viqar gave a detailed presentation about the role and achievements of FOSPAH in protecting women’s rights. She informed that FOSPAH was providing speedy justice in harassment at the workplace and property cases of women who had been deprived of their ownership rights. She informed that 725 harassment cases were registered with FOSPAH, during 2023, out of which 517 cases had been decided. She said that an upsurge had been witnessed in the registration of harassment and women’s property cases with FOSPAH due to the awareness campaign about its role and functions. She apprised the meeting that harassment of women and denial of property rights to women were pervasive issues in Pakistan. Appreciating the continued support of the President Dr Arif Alvi, she told the meeting that so far 208 representations against the decisions of FOSPAH had been filed with the President, out of which only 10 were under process with the office of the President while the rest had been decided.
Addressing the meeting, the President called for taking appropriate legislative measures at the federal and provincial levels to ensure the protection of women’s property rights, besides discouraging the transfer of property by women to their family members due to pressures.
