Letters To The Editor

Female labour force participation in Pakistan

Pakistan's development road map "Vision 2025" sets an ambitious target of an increase in female labour force participation from its current level of 25 percent to 45 percent by 2025. The Sindh Government is committed to increase the participation of women in labour force with the inclusion of home-based workers. Speaking during a seminar, Secretary Women Development Alia Shahid said that the government, in order to empower the HBWs of the province, is committed to taking forward the strengthening of the HBWs at all levels. The management of women home workers is something that the authorities need to work on at all levels and this initiative by the Sindh Government is a step forward in dismantling the gender inequality in employment opportunities and increasing the number of women in the labour force. The societal barriers that remain to women’s representation and advancement in employment are finally being lifted gradually with the help of such measures.

Muneeza Qadri,
Karachi.

Pakistan, a hunger afflicted country

Pakistan is one of the Next Eleven countries identified by Jim O'Neill in a research paper as having a high potential of becoming the world's largest economies in the 21st century but it fares considerably worse than its neighbours when it comes to tackling hunger. Pakistan has been ranked 94th in the index of 117 countries afflicted with hunger. The country scored 28.5 on the hunger index. According to a survey, 60 percent of the population still faces food shortage and hunger. The survey also showed that 15 percent of children under five suffer from acute malnutrition. The majority of children consume less than half of their daily energy requirements, with low levels of vitamins and minerals. This is primarily due to the unequal distribution of resources between the rich and poor. The government must take measures for the fair distribution of resources, such as access to clean water, food, and basic necessities.

Murder in the name of honour

From the medieval era through the relatively recent past, women have been burnt to death on suspicion of being a witch. In the modern era, they continue to be brutally murdered in many parts of the world – only this time their “crime” is “dishonouring” their families and corrupting society. Recently, a mother of an infant was shot dead, apparently in the name of honour, in Karachi. Sidra died on the spot after she was shot by two unidentified assailants at her house. According to the police investigations and the claims of the husband, Sidra was shot dead by her brothers as they were against the fact that she had contracted a freewill marriage without her family’s consent. Although honour killings are no longer justified in the courts of law and amendments have been made to the anti-honour killing laws – which now mandate life imprisonment in honour killing cases even if the victim’s relatives forgive the murderer. However, there is still much to be done.

Rabia Ismail,
Karachi.

Ever deteriorating status of Pakistan railways

In a recent tragedy that occurred in the Rahim Yar Khan district of Punjab, at least 65 people died after a fire broke out in Tezgam Express – travelling from Karachi to Rawalpindi – after a gas canister exploded onboard. The fire started after passengers started cooking on the train, and the resulting inferno destroyed three economy-class carriages of the train. Anybody traveling by rail in Pakistan would know how the status of Pakistan railways has always been below average. People sneaking stoves on trains to prepare meals on long journeys was a common problem. Permissiveness of irrelevant facilities without any degree of supervision and check, and over looking of small misappropriations in the railway department has encouraged boost of such activities. The authorities must establish a proper system of checks on the functioning in the railway department in order to avoid such dreadful incidents in the future.

Fatima Sohail,
Lahore.