June 11, 2012
Washington — Pakistan is not just about conflicts, but has been making a great deal of political and societal effort towards protecting women's rights, the country's ambassador to the US Sherry Rehman has said.
Rehman said her country has been wrongly shown through the lens of the Western media.
June 11, 2012
Washington — Pakistan is not just about conflicts, but has been making a great deal of political and societal effort towards protecting women's rights, the country's ambassador to the US Sherry Rehman has said.
Rehman said her country has been wrongly shown through the lens of the Western media.
"Conflict indeed brings oppression to people but Pakistan is not all about conflict. It is a place where a great deal is happening at the governmental and civil society levels," Rehman said at a time of lopsided coverage in parts of the Western media through the lens of Afghan war.
She was speaking at a reception hosted in Washington in honour of prominent Pakistani women's rights advocate and documentary filmmaker Samar Minallah, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported.
The Pakistani envoy said the government was making efforts to give women their rightful place in society.
There has been several legislative achievements, and the speaker of the National Assembly Fehmida Mirza and Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar are both women, Rehman said.
But women getting elected as parliamentarians or serving at elite government positions was just one aspect of the change taking place in Pakistan, she said.
The ambassador has been a long-time champion for rights of women, minorities and vulnerable segments of society, both as a writer and a parliamentarian.
US special envoys for Pakistan and Afghanistan Marc Grossman and Coordinator for US non-military assistance for Pakistan Robin Raphel were among those who attended the event.
Courtesy: IANS
