Daily Times

First Lady Samina Arif Alvi Wednesday said the government was committed to empowerment of women to put Pakistan on a development trajectory and promised all out support to differently abled persons to improve their vocational proficiency bringing them to the mainstream of national development process.

She expressed these views at a ceremony titled “Women With Different Challenges” jointly organized by Pakistan Bait Ul Maal and WHO where she listened to the issues faced by differently abled women hailing from across south Punjab and their suggestions for their resolution.

Mrs. Samina Arif Alvi said that differently abled women would be provided vocational training as per job requirements before their placement to help them not only to become self sufficient but also to be able to support their families.

“Differently abled women are close to my heart,” she said adding that government would continue to work for women empowerment. She said the government would introduce legislation to help resolve problems of disabled persons.

The First Lady unveiled a planned mechanism for empowerment of disabled women and added that vocational training centers would be established to train differently abled women as per market-oriented skills. She added that First Women Bank was already offering loan facility to disabled women under soft terms and conditions.

She said the incumbent government was striving hard to provide relief to the downtrodden segments of society since the day it came into power.

She said the government was deftly tackling the COVID-19 trouble and extended financial support to the families that lost their means of earning as a consequent effect of smart lockdown. She added that the government took numerous initiatives including Panahgah, Ehsaas programme, ration distribution among the poor to support the destitute.

Mrs. Samina Arif Alvi said it was her desire to work for differently abled women and expressed satisfaction that a lot of people were working in Multan for special persons. On this occasion, the First Lady also inaugurated the “Self Help Group of Disabled Women” of south Punjab. She advised the disabled women to get their disability cards to get Rs 2000 monthly financial assistance from the government.

She said that disabled girls were getting financial aid at schools in addition to free education. She said the government has already declared that disabled girls would get free education up to university level.

The First lady said the government was taking different initiatives to improve outreach of disabled persons for their swift connectivity to facilities required for their capacity enhancement and get their problems resolved.

She promised to resolve all the problems shared by the disabled women at the ceremony. Secretaries of different provincial departments of south Punjab, Director General National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), DG Pakistan Bait ul Maal (PBM), technical advisor to WHO on women with disabilities and rehabilitation Dr. Maryam Malik, chairperson Society for Special Persons Zahida Qureshi were present.

Earlier, the First Lady also attended a lunch hosted by Taray Zameen Par (TZP) Trust in her honour and visited a facility ‘Dar-ul-Sukoon’ where she planted a sapling as part of monsoon plantation drive. TZP CEO Fadia Kashif accompanied her. Mrs. Samina Arif Alvi also met with skilled women busy in developing traditional items at Dar Ul Sukoon and visited classrooms where she talked to the destitute children getting education. The school children presented a tableau on a defense day national song.