*PEAHAWAR – The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has appointed first everfemale provincial ombudsperson under the Protection Against Harassment ofWomen at Workplace (Amendment) Act, 2018.*
The KP Cabinet decided the name of Rukhshanda Naz, a social activist andwomen rights defender, for the post. She has been appointed under the lawto curb harassment at workplace.
The actual law was passed in 2010 under which the provincial and federalgovernments were bound to appoint anti-harassment ombudsperson in threemonths. Except for KP, all three provinces had appointed theirombudsperson.
The former governments of Awami National Party (ANP) and the PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) failed to appoint an ombudsperson.
Born in Quetta, Rukhshanda has been fighting for protection of women’srights for the last 25 years. She was shortlisted by the KP social welfaredepartment after which the cabinet selected her for the post ofombudsperson.