ISLAMABAD: Public and private offices in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar will now be fined up to Rs100,000 for not forming anti-harassment committees at workplaces, local media reported on Tuesday.
Pakistan reports hundreds of cases of harassment and crimes against women every year. Earlier this year, the public assault of a woman at Lahore’s Minar-e-Pakistan monument and the gang rape of a mother and her daughter by a rickshaw driver and his accomplices led to widespread public outrage and calls on authorities to ensure the safety of women in public places.
The decision to fine such workplaces in Peshawar was taken by the Provincial Ombudsperson for Anti-Harassment Rakhshunda Naz on Tuesday. So far, 40 organizations, including schools, banks and health centers, have been fined for delaying the constitution of harassment committees, SAMAA TV reported.
“The committees have to play reconciliatory roles in harassment cases,” the report read. “They are responsible for taking up problems between complainants and respondents and finding an amicable solution.”
Naz first issued the orders earlier this year, instructing organizations in the city to nominate three women for the committee and submit their names in the ombudsperson’s office.
In January 2020, the KP Assembly also passed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
In October this year, Pakistan’s parliament approved changes to the country’s workplace harassment law to widen the meaning of harassment, who is considered an employee and who can lodge a complaint. However, the amendments were only applicable to Islamabad, according to the report.
After the parliament approved amendments to the definition of harassment, it is no longer limited to just sexual crimes.
It now includes “any unwanted behavior which creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment on the basis of age, disability, gender, religion or belief, and race or sexual orientation,” the report added.
Fines for offices in Pakistan’s Peshawar that fail to set up anti-harassment committees
https://arab.news/g3r2y
Fines for offices in Pakistan’s Peshawar that fail to set up anti-harassment committees
- Pakistan reports hundreds of cases of harassment and crimes against women every year
- In Oct, parliament approved changes to country’s law to widen definition of harassment
US commits $1.25 billion EXIM financing for Pakistan’s Reko Diq mine — envoy
- Financing could unlock up to $2 billion in US mining equipment exports, create 13,500 jobs across Pakistan and US
- Move aligns with Pakistan’s push to close $3.5 billion debt package for world-class copper-gold mine in Balochistan
KARACHI: Washington has approved $1.25 billion in US Export-Import Bank financing for Pakistan’s Reko Diq copper-gold mine, Acting US ambassador Natalie Baker said in a video message on Wednesday, adding that the package could unlock up to $2 billion in US equipment and service exports for the project.
The facility, one of the largest US financing decisions in Pakistan’s minerals sector, is expected to help pave the way for US-sourced mining technology, drilling machinery and operations support, while creating jobs in both countries and accelerating development of one of the world’s largest untapped copper deposits.
The $7 billion Reko Diq project, located in the mineral-rich southwestern province of Balochistan, is being developed by Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold in partnership with Pakistan’s federal and provincial governments. The mine is central to Pakistan’s effort to expand exports, attract foreign investment and open the country’s largely untapped critical minerals reserves, a segment where copper plays a key role in electric vehicles, renewable energy, AI hardware and global supply chains. Saudi Arabia’s Manara Minerals, a Public Investment Fund and Ma’aden joint venture, has also expressed intent to acquire a 15 percent stake.
“I am pleased to highlight the US Export-Import Bank recently approved financing of $1.25 billion to support the mining of critical minerals at Riko Diq in Pakistan,” Baker said.
“In the coming years, EXIM’s project financing will bring in up to $2 billion in high-quality US mining equipment and services needed to build and operate the Riko Diq mine, along with creating an estimated 6,000 jobs in the US and 7,500 jobs in Balochistan, Pakistan.”
The envoy added that the deal reflects the strategic direction of US commercial diplomacy.
“The Riko Diq project serves as the model for mining projects that will benefit US exporters as well as local Pakistani communities and partners by bringing employment and prosperity to both our nations,” Baker added. “The Trump administration has made the forging of deals exactly like this one central to American diplomacy.”
SECURITY CHALLENGES
Speaking to Arab News last month, Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said the broader debt package for Reko Diq was nearly complete, anchored by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and expected to total about $3.5 billion.
“The financial close, from my perspective, is around the corner,” he said, adding that EXIM participation had been delayed only due to a temporary US government shutdown restrictions, now lifted.
If financing closes on schedule, Reko Diq is projected to generate $2.8 billion in export potential in its first year of shipment, nearly 10 percent of Pakistan’s existing export volume, and could embed the US as a long-term strategic investor alongside Canadian and Saudi partners. The project added 13 million ounces to Barrick’s gold reserves in 2024 and is expected to produce 200,000 metric tons of copper a year in its first phase, doubling after expansion, with projected free cash flow of more than $70 billion over 37 years.
Lenders including the International Finance Corporation and the Asian Development Bank among others are assembling a financing package exceeding $2.6 billion.
Balochistan suffers frequent attacks by separatists and other militants, making security a major concern for the mining scheme. The project also requires a railway line upgrade to transport copper concentrate to Karachi for processing abroad.
Barrick returned to Pakistan in 2022 after a years-long legal dispute was settled, and the mine has since become a flagship investment for the country as it seeks to draw more capital into its minerals sector.
