ICPH marked the Day International Women’s Day with a youth dialogue

Lahore : Interfaith Commission for Peace & Harmony (ICPH) , Albaraka Welfare Trust International (ABWTI) in collaboration with Karakoram College for Girls ,Baldia Town celebrated seminar, marked the Day International Women’s Day with a youth dialogue around the theme ‘Promise is a promise: take action to end violence against women’.

Mr. Kelash Sarhadi welcomed the Guests and the participants. Applauding the role of women he said that they have a great contribution towards Nation Building however even today women are not being given their due rights in our society. Their right to education, marriage, decision making for reproduction, property rights and employment are still being ignored. He said that the women population in Pakistan is 52% and more than half the country is still unaware of their rights. He said that the need of the hour is to educate women on their rights as well as their obligations in order to develop a healthy society. He said that the Government should have special job quota for women in the Government and Public Sector to enhance women participation in all fields of life.

ICPH Chief and Ambassador Peace & Interfaith Harmony Allama Muhammad Ahsan Siddiqui has said that Pakistan was not created for a few families but for the millions of the poor. He said that feudal lords, industrialists, capitalists and incompetent politicians had been playing with the destiny of the nation for last 69 years. He said that those making hue and cry about women rights should know that Islam conferred equal rights on women 1400 years ago.

Ambassador of Peace said that describing ‘women emancipation’ without any social, moral and cultural check as rights was not correct. He said that the exploitation of women continued in various forms despite passage of 69 years since inception of Pakistan because we turned our back on our real traditions. He said that a certain mindset had kept women deprived of their due rights. He said that real enemy of women was the current exploitative and corrupt electoral system.

ICPH Women wing leaders Nirmela Kelash expressed these views while addressing a seminar organized under the banner of ICPH in connection with the International Women Day in the Karakoram College for Girls. She said Quoting the Father of the Nation, Quaid e Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah; she said that in his Speech delivered at Islamia College for women March 25, 1940,

“I have always maintained that no nation can ever be worthy of its existence that cannot take its women along with the men. No struggle can ever succeed without women participating side by side with men. There are two powers in the world; one is the sword and the other is the pen. There is a great competition and rivalry between the two. There is a third power stronger than both, that of the women. No nation can rise to the height of glory unless your women are side by side with you; we are victims of evil customs. It is a crime against humanity that our women are shut up within the four walls of the houses as prisoners. There is no sanction anywhere for the deplorable condition in which our women have to live”.

Mrs. Dr Fareeda Zaib said that Islam gave honorable status to women in every relation, whether she is a daughter, sister, wife and mother so that she could play a constructive role in the development of a society. She said that a woman should stand shoulder to shoulder to men in educational, economic and social fields of life as an incarnation of piety and modesty. She said that a society could not progress without the contribution of women. She said that Allama Muhammad Ahsan Siddiqui message of peace was for Islam and Pakistan and it was through implementation on this message that durable peace could be established in the country. She said that women of Pakistan were aware of their rights and determined to get their usurped rights restored.

In her speech at the occasion, Mrs. Mangla Sharma said that veil was not a hurdle in progression of women in career and social hierarchy; rather it was a source of confidence and security. She said that the women were confronted with a number of problems, adding that veil was a protector of women’s chastity and respect. She said that it was unabashed to unwittingly make woman a part of publicity campaign in a crude manner.

Miss. Professor Faiza Aziz said in her views in the seminar that Islam conferred equal rights on women like that of men. She said that women were considered inferior in society, which was gross injustice to her capabilities. She said that the rights conferred on women by Islam were appreciable and unique, adding that they could carve out a respectable niche for themselves by using these rights. She said that a lot depended on women as to what kind of role they wanted to play in society, maintaining that they could contribute to beauty of canvas of universe or darken it. The choice, she said, was theirs.

Mrs Aysha Ahsan speaking in the seminar said that there was a tendency among a certain group of women to appear modern and in their craze to look so; their actions had at times been found to be out of sync with moral values and traditions. She said that a woman could go up the ladder of progress without violating the principles prescribed by Islam. She said that no religion prescribed as comprehensive and elaborate set of women rights as Islam. She said that women needed to be sensitized to the confines imposed by Islam in her endeavors to make a mark in life.