As per the statement by the Chief Minister Punjab’s spokesperson on Sunday, the government is set to launch Pakistan’s first ever ‘Violence Against Women Centre’, by tomorrow (Tuesday) in a gathering at the Social Welfare Complex, Multan.
The representative informed that by taking the initiative, Pakistan has become the first country to have developed such a program. He added that the center would stand as a shield for the women ‘in risk’ in Punjab, where violence is common and criminals are on lose as criminal conviction is terribly low.
The center would look into such crimes and would ensure justice to these women. The center would help in lodging complains and filing FIRs and would provide help until criminals are prosecuted. The representative informed that all such complications would be dealt by the center which would have all required services to proceed with the culprits.
Besides this, it would even help women with the first aid, collecting forensic evidence, medical examinations, rehabilitation and psychological evaluation.
For this purpose, the Violence Against Women Center, is assimilating with other groups, NGOs and shelters, so victims would not face any difficulty in blending in with the society. This would help the center monitor the victims once they have completed investigations.
A pilot form of the center is also being shaped up simultaneously.
The spokesperson also informed that the center would not allow outsiders to interfere in the legal proceedings – not even families would be allowed to call the victims. The Center would be open 24/7 and all assault-related evidence would be collected within a day time of the incident.
He added that database and monitoring and recording software would be used to keep data updated. The center would have its own psychologists trained for the specific task. All staff within the facility would be females.
