By Zahiruddin
CHITRAL: The establishment of shelter house (darul aman) at Booni instead of Chitral city has been questioned by the legal fraternity and the human rights activists contending that it must be in the town of district headquarters for
The chairman of Human Rights Program Chitral, Niaz Ahmed Niazi advocate expressed his concern over the choice of Booni town in Upper Chitral at a distance of 81 kilometers from the district headquarters for the shelter house.
He said that the facility was inevitable in Chitral due to the rising number of the suicide of women folk who ended their lives in distress because there was no place where they could find solace after having been banished from their homes or developing differences with their family members due to bickering.
He said that the human rights activists had been striving for the establishment of darul aman in the city to bring about drastic reduction in the number of suicide cases among women in the district.
Mr. Niazi pleaded that the district and sessions judge and a larger part of the district judiciary is also stationed in Chitral city, so it was not feasible to establish the facility at a distance of 80 kms from the district kutchery.
“Additional resources will be required for the police to bring the inmates of the shelter house from Booni to the court of the district and sessions judge in Chitral city for appearance before the court.
It will be a perennial issue for the management of the shelter house and the police to bring the inmate (s) to the Chitral city for healthcare as the DHQ hospital is also here while the offices of social welfare department is also situated here which catered the needs of the facility”, he said.
The former president of district bar association, Alamzeb advocate termed the decision of the establishment of darul aman at Booni as illogical and termed it impracticable on many grounds.
He said that Chitral city was also geographical centre of the district and it will not be possible for the distressed women from the women of lower part of Chitral to have access to the Booni town in Upper Chitral.
He said that the Chitral city was well connected to all the valleys of the district through public transport system and a distraught woman will easily travel to the city using the facility while in case of Booni it was not possible.
As non-ADP scheme, the government has allocated a sum of Rs. 88.520 million for the construction of Darul Aman building in Booni for which the communication and works (C&W) department has called bids from the construction firms last week.
The district officer of social welfare, especial education and human rights could not be contacted on telephone to know her version.
