HYDERABAD: University of Sindh Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Fateh Mohammad Burfat has called for setting up an independent and fully fledged campus for women in Sindh, preferably in a remote district, to empower women and make them productive members of society.

Dr Burfat said at a meeting of pro-vice chancellors of six SU campuses that no nation could ever progress without bringing their women into the mainstream of society.

He cited examples of Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and other rising South Asian economies and said these countries had attained economic boom throughquality higher education and active participation of women in economic growth.

`Empowerment of women will usherin progressin Sindhand the progress of the province will lead to national development, which will lift image of Pakistan in the international community,` he said.

He said that private education was expensive, exorbitant and almost unaffordable for the poor, therefore, there was a need for the establishment of a campus of Sindh University in Karachi as well to extend cost-effective higher education facility to people with humble unancial backgrounds.

The pro-vice-chancellors Dr Anwar Ali Shah G. Syed of SU Dadu campus, Dr Sarfaraz Hussain Solangi of SU Thatta campus, DrMohammad Siddique Kalhoro of SU Laar campus, Dr Noor Mohammad Jamali of SU Larkana campus, Mohammad Nawaz Narejo of SU Naushehro Feroz campus and Dr Ghulam Sarwar Gachal of SU Mirpurkhas campus attended the meeting.

Wasa workers call of f strike Protesting employees of the HyderabadDevelopmentAuthority (HDA) called off their strike on Wednesday after a meeting with Hyderabad commissioner and deputy commissioner.

DC Mutasim Abbasi assured the protesters of Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa), which was administered by HDA, that Sindh government would release Rs375 million to Wasa soon on account of liabili-ties for water and sewerage charges.

HDA CBA union general secretary Abdul Qayyum Bhatti confirmed they had called off the strike after the meeting and said the union hoped the funds would be released soon. It would help Wasa release salaries and pension to workers till June, he said.

He said that other demands of the union would also be negotiated with the administration.

A Wasa worker, Atiquddin, reportedly committed suicide on Feb 14 when the CBA union`s strike was in progress.

The strike started on Feb 7 during which the workers shut water supply and sewerage disposal systems. The worker was believed to be under severe mental stress due to financial problems.