Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government to reopen four Women Crisis Centres in the province.

The court was hearing an appeal filed by the KP government against and order of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) about reopening of the Women Crisis Centres.

The PHC had ordered the government to reopen these centres while entertaining an appeal of the women working in these centres that were closed by the government.

A three-member Supreme Court of Pakistan bench headed by Justice Dost Muhammad Khan, while rejecting the KP government appeal, directed that the centres be reopened.

During the course of hearing, Justice Dost Muhammad Khan noted that these centres required to be reopened as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf had received votes in response to its promise of empowering the women in the province.

He said that the PTI was the political entity which had the largest presence of women. “So it is time for it to do something for the welfare of women in the province,” he said.

He said that reopening of these centres should not be a problem as the government had procured foreign funding for them.

In 2010, the KP government had shut down operations in four crisis centres that provided a means of employment to a number of women from all over the province.

Following the closure, the women working at these crisis centres moved the PHC, seeking reopening of these centres. Deciding in the women’s favour, the PHC had ordered reopening of these centres. The KP government had shut down these centres citing a lack of funding.

Published in Daily Times, August 29^th 2017.