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Women in Karachi are afraid of utilizing the city's transport options due to a spike in incidents of molestation in cabs, and rickshaws.
Describing the grim situation of Karachi regarding transport, a woman, Hira said, "I get free from work around 9.30 pm and all the buses and minibuses available in the afternoon are long gone by that time," as she lamented her plight, reported The Express Tribune. Another woman, Khalida Begum, who is a housemaid and works in Nazimabad and Karimabad in Pakistan stated that the situation of roads in Karachi with no security worries them. "I have to wait for a rickshaw which has a majority of female passengers as male passengers make me worry for my safety," she said. However, refuting the claims, the President of the Karachi Transport Ittehad, Irshad Bukhari, said that women prefer buses and minibuses because they have reserved seats for women. Somehow, the statements of women victims describe a different picture. According to The Express Tribune, advisor to Chief Minister Sindh, Waqar Mehdi, when asked if the government planned on addressing the plight of women by introducing female-friendly public transport, said, "the government was trying to solve public transport problems for everyone in Karachi." Pakistan's Global Gender Gap Index has worsened over time. In 2017, Pakistan ranked 143, slipping to 148 in 2018. According to the last year's 'Global Gender Gap Report 2021', Pakistan ranked 153 out of 156 countries on the gender parity index, that is, among the last four. The country's situation has become more conservative and only worsened over time. (ANI)
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