Pakistan fails to ensure safety for women in educational institutions, workplaces

The recent suicide by two female students of a medical university in Sindh province past points to severe flaws regarding women's safety in several places including educational institutions and workplaces in Pakistan, underlining that the country has once again failed as a "safe nation" for women.

The two students were forced to take the extreme step reportedly due to sexual harassment, according to The Express Tribune newspaper.

According to the publication, such highly disgraceful incidents should attract the whole society's attention for the resolution of the very grave issue of women's harassment in educational institutions, workplaces and various other spaces.

In November 2021, a fourth-year student of a medical university killed herself in her hostel room, and another student of the same university did the same.

As per the media reports, both females found themselves so cornered by blackmail that they preferred to take the ultimate step. Apart from that, a member of the provincial assembly has lodged a written complaint against the vice-chancellor of another medical university in the province alleging harassment, The Express Tribune reported.

The rising incidents of criminal assault on females indicate that they face hazards in the workplace, educational institutions, on roads and streets.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people including journalists, writers and civil society activists held a sit-in protest outside the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University (SMBBMU) in Larkana city in Pakistan's Sindh province over the failure of police in arresting the blackmailers responsible for the death of two medical students.

The incident comes amid the annual report of State of Human Rights in Pakistan released by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) for the year 2020 that has set alarm bells ringing over the plight of women in the country.

( With inputs from ANI )