Addressing a ceremony held to mark International Women’s Day 2017, Minhaj Women League President Ms. Farah Naz has said that the women have been exploited by reducing their representation in the local government institutions. She said that the present rulers also want to keep the women deprived of education like extremists. She said that in the 21st century, 70 percent villages lack educational centres of good quality, adding that all claims of progress are confined to press statements.

Ms. Afnan Baber, Sana Waheed, Ayesha Mubashar, Zainab Arshad, Kalsoom Tufail, and other women leaders also addressed the ceremony. Ms. Farah Naz said that it has become customary that on each International Day, the rulers announce the women empowerment package but ground realities tell a different story. She said that what to speak of the plight of the common women, even the female members of assemblies face exploitation at the hand of their male colleagues. She said that women parliamentarians neither get development funds like their male colleagues nor are they included in the decision-making. She said that the family that has ruled Punjab and federation for a long time are responsible for miserable condition of the women in the country.

Ms. Afnan Baber said that the rulers who cut down the representation of women in the local government institutions do not have any right to indulge in statements on the women day. He said that keeping the women outside the decision making processes represents the anti-women mindset of the ruling elite.

Ms. Ayesha Mubashar said that the decision to grant 10% job quota to women has not been implemented. She said that crimes against women have been persistently high in Punjab compared to other provinces during last eight years. She said that rulers have no interest to resolve the problems of the womenfolk. She said that had the rulers been serious in empowering the women in real terms, they would have carried out legislation to grant inheritance rights to women especially in the feudal families so that no one could ever discriminate against their women by marrying them with the Holy Quran; vocational training institutions would have been established to impart skills to women; and girls schools would have been provided modern facilities aimed at enabling them to play their role for construction of a healthy and educated society. She deplored the fact that rulers prefer metro trains to education here.