Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Murtaza Solangi said on Monday that active role of women in the electoral process was very important.
“Women constitute half of the population of Pakistan and their empowerment is a sacred task”, he said while addressing a policy forum organised by South Asia Partnership Pakistan titled ” Women’s participation in elections”.
Referring to Benazir Bhutto, Murtaza Solangi said that the first woman prime minister in the Muslim world was from Pakistan. Solangi said that ending gender discrimination should start from home and daughters should have equal rights to sons
in every home. He opined that it was not possible to eliminate gender discrimination only by enacting new laws. “We have to change our thinking to give equal rights to women,” Murtaza Solangi remarked. He said that the caretaker government had a limited mandate but it was ready to take all possible steps to empower women if concrete proposals were given to it.
The minister said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will release the election schedule before December 16.
“General elections will be held on February 8, no one should have any doubt about it”, Murtaza Solangi added.
