ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division Dr Sania Nishtar has said that a policy would be developed to ensure that women should have joint ownership of houses in each of the new housing schemes of the government.

Talking to APP, she said the entire agenda of ‘Ehsaas’ programme was based on empowering the women.

Sania Nishtar said that six million women would get benefit from the ‘Kafalat’ programme of Ehsaas initiative and under the programme more than 50% of the education vouchers and scholarships would be dedicated for women.

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The special assistant further said that ‘Insaf Card’ covered health conditions for women, preferentially, not just health and education, but jobs and economic empowerment were also crucial for the poor women.

How coal mine project is empowering women of Thar

Around 12 women drive 60-tonne trucks in Tharparkar and Nusrat is one of them. Talking to an Al Jazeera reporter Nusrat said she was afraid when she saw the gigantic truck for the first time but now it was a source of livelihood for her family.

Most of the women in Thar belong to conservative Hindu families who get married young and look after their children whole their lives. So driving truck is not just a job for them but it is a way of women empowerment.

Nusrat not just drives a truck but she also cooks food, washes clothes and brings water from well in the morning as they don’t have running water in taps.

So the project of coal mine is a complete package for the residents of the area. Those who have been displaced because of it have been provided far better and bigger houses and lands than they previously held, apart from the jobs they got according to their skills. The government of Pakistan has allocated a certain share from the profit of the project for development of the area.