LAHORE: Women from different walks of life on Monday demanded that the government take urgent and effective measures against the rising incidence of crimes committed against women and children, besides voicing concerns over the lack of access to education and healthcare and the ‘discriminatory treatment’ meted out to people of south Punjab.
Addressing a press conference here on Monday, PPP Lahore Secretary General Dr Ayesha Shaukat said that safety providers in police stations were exploiting women and that half of the country`s population had now been compromised. She questioned whether this situation reflects a democratic era. She said that she wanted to draw the government’s attention towards reducing crimes against women and children, and made it clear that she and her colleagues were not there to point out mistakes, but to speak for improvement.
Ms Shaukat said that as head of a province, the Punjab chief minister should increase engagement with members of the provincial assembly, take feedback from them to resolve social and economic issues, and take her secretaries and assembly members into confidence before making decisions.
She said it was the government’s responsibility to provide protection to women in both rural and urban areas, adding that most of girls in villages are unable to attend school because of the long distances they have to cover for the purpose. She said Benazir Bhutto was still remembered for her pro-people initiatives, and that the PPP was ready to support the government on issues concerning women and children.
Lawyer Zarmine Mazari said hundreds of thousands of children in south Punjab are out of school, and that education and health facilities for women are located far away. She said that children in the katcha areas faced even greater problems, and that no one, whether a tribal chief, a politician or a bureaucrat, should be above the law.
Social worker Ayesha Umar Naseeb said that while the country had plenty of laws, the government needed to ensure their implementation and listen to the voices of women and children who suffered abuse.
Philanthropist Sabahat Rafique questioned whether only men are the citizens of this state, or children and women are also part of it.
She asked how women could be safe in police stations where even men were not safe.
Published in DAWN on August 18, 2026.
