Draft finalized for establishment of NCHR: Law Minister
By Ansr Mehmood 'Pakistan Times' Special Correspondent

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Law and Human Rights Farooq H Naik said Wednesday the government will set up a National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) and a draft for its establishment has been already been finalized by the Ministry of Law.

The Commission, to be headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court or the retired Chief Justice of a High Court, will be fully independent and will ensure the protection of human rights from across the board including the women, the Law Minister said.

He was addressing the concluding session of a three-day (July 21-23) first Round-table on “Gender Main-streaming through Legal Reforms”, organized by the Planning Commission in collaboration with GTZ, a German development institution, here at the PM Secretariat.

The concluding session was also addressed by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Shehnaz Wazir Ali, Member National Assembly Dr. Azra Fazal and Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Salman Farooqi.

The Law Minister said the present government was committed to women emancipation and their empowerment, as no country can achieve real progress without the participation of half of its population in the development process.

He said gender main-streaming was an Islamic concept as Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) asked for equal rights of women. Founder of the nation Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah also championed for equal rights of women, he added.

Farooq Naik said the Constitution of Pakistan also guarantees gender equality, adding, the government was working on a number of legislative measures which after approval from the parliament will not only ensure the women emancipation and empowerment in every field of life but would help check various social ills such as women harassment at work places, maltreatment at jails and police stations and injustices in inheritance.

He said the government will also introduce some amendments in the family laws so as to protect the rights women and children in divorce cases.

In this respect, the Law Minister said, a law was under consideration according to which a man, who opts to divorce to his wife, will be bound to give half of his property to her.

Later, in a brief chat with the newsmen the Law Minister said the government wants to restore the deposed judges but there was a difference of opinion between PPP and PML (N) on the modalities.

The PPP wants to restore the judges through constitutional means, while the PML (N) wants it to be done through an executive order, he added. ●