KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has hailed the Supreme Court of Pakistan verdict directing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government to reopen four women crisis centres shut down by the provincial government previously. In a statement, the PPP chairman said depriving the women of their rights and deserved facilities was the worst example of governance by the KP government. The PPP chairman said women of KP province should rise up to snatch their due rights. He added that PPP would always stand for their emancipation and well-being. He asked the KP government to reopen the women crisis centres without any further delay stressing that any option for further litigation on the issue would be resisted. It may be recalled that a three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Dost Muhammad Khan, upheld the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) verdict and discarded the KP government’s appeal against reopening of the women crisis centres. The KP government had appealed to the apex court against the PHC order. The PHC had given the order after women working at the centres had petitioned for the centres’ reopening.
Published in Daily Times, August 30th 2017.
