The News, 26 May 99
HINA SLATES GOVERNMENT FOR VILIFYING DASTAK
By our correspondent.
Human rights activists Hina Jillani has alleged the government is running a vilification campaign against Dastak by using national resources and without giving them a chance to clarify their position.
She was addressing a press conference at Lahore Press Club Tuesday. Briefing newsmen about Dastak, she said it has been working since 1991 and a board of trustees including people like Abid Hassan Minto, Arif Nizami and Saleema Hashmi as its members had been established in 1996.
She said Dastak provided shelter and legal aid to women and there were certain rules for admission to the institution. More than 1,400 women had been provided shelter and legal aid by Dastak since its inception, she said, adding, "since '96, 56 women have been sent back to their homes after reconciliation." Hina Jillani added they always tried to bring about a reconciliation between the women and their families.
"Many women come with their children," she said, adding, "these children, who were 90 in 1995, are also given education, while the women are given skill training so that they can earn their bread after leaving Dastak."
The language used by the officials had traumatised the women, she said, adding such campaigns were launched whenever a woman from a rich and influential family sought shelter in Dastak.
She said the campaigns against Dastak by by government agencies were also based on the viewpoint of families of the women like Saima Waheed, Humaira Mahmood and Samia Imran.
Talking about the security arrangements at Dastak, Hina Jillani said they had enough security arrangements by the police. She said no man could go there to meet women. "However, the women themselves can go out," she said, dispelling the impression that the women had been imprisoned there.
"A list of women is given to AC Model Town fortnightly and a magistrate also checks the record regularly," she added. She said the Punjab Social Welfare Department had adopted the guidelines prepared by Dastak and circulated the same to all darul amans in the province which provided legal aid to women (QUID?) Some nine women had been killed in darul amans during last four or five years, she added, clarifying that Samia Imran was not killed in Dastak. "She was murdered in the office where women are provided legal aid," she said.
"How is it un-Islamic to help a woman, " she questioned. "In fact, those who think like that themselves have un-Islamic thoughts," she added. "Do you think that a woman, who is compelled to leave her home, should be exploited on roads, or given shelter in organisations like Dastak?" Hina said.
Dastak chairperson 'Tahira Mazhar Ali and members of board of trustees including Haider Farooq Maududi, Shahtaj Qizalbash, Farida Shaheed, Fareeha Zafar, Neelam Hussain, Samina Rehman and I.A. Rehman were also present.
Human rights activist Asma Jehangir has denied having accounts worth millions of dollars with Swiss banks and advocating cases against the country's interests.
In a statement Tuesday, she termed the allegations part of the campaign to malign her organisation. She said she had the right to file a defamation case against the government if it failed to prove the charges. Asma vowed to continue her struggle for human rights.
Go to: Pakistani Civil Society Under attack (May 1998 - May 1999)
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