ISLAMABAD: Bher ki Khaal Mein, authored by Dr Fouzia Saeed, was launched at Pakistan National Council of Arts (PNCA) on Sunday in which the message of women empowerment and their skills and determination to make positive contributions was highlighted.

The book was launched with a fanfare as dancers and dhol players received the chief guest Tehmina Durrani, author of the book `My Feudal Lord` which caused ripples in the society when it came out 23 years ago.

Bher ki Khaal Mein, price-tagged Rs400, is the Urdu translation of `Working with Sharks` which talks of the struggle against sexual harassment.

The story follows the life of the author and her efforts to deal with male colleagues working at the United Nations mis-sion in Islamabad.

It also follows a group of ten other women who filed a joint complaint against harassment only to find themselves under attack by their managers.

The bosses had aligned themselves with the perpetrator in an effort to crush the case, and the women`s careers.

According to the author, the case culminated in the passage of legislation by the parliament in 2010 making sexual harassment a crime.

The book launch coincided with the National Working Women`s Day commemorated on December 22 every year.

Various speakers took turns to share their experience on enforcing sexual harassment laws in both private and government offices.

Certificates were also distributed among professionals for strengthening the harassment laws in their offices.

Shahida Yasmeen, an official in the National Highway and Motorway Police,whose services were recognised, explained that her office was the first to implement the harassment law.

Speakers explained that it was difficult to spread awareness of the harassment laws at workplace.

Waseem Hashmi from the Higher Education Commission Islamabad said, `Education is a vast sector. Female students easily become victims of harassment, but even professors are cautious while talking to their students about it, he said.

Similarly, human rights activist I.A.

Rehman described working women taking the stand as a bold step.

`Harassment suppresses a woman`s personality and hinders her mental and professional growth,` he said.

Information Minister Pervez Rashid, while addressing the participants, said Pakistan today was worse off than what the British had left it.

`The country is like stagnant waterwhere mosquitoes and cockroaches thrive,` said Pervez Rashid, adding that the book launch offered a glimmer of hope that circumstances would change for the better.

Encouragement came from Tehmina Durrani when she gave her own example of taking a stand even at the cost of losing loved ones. `For thirteen years, my family did not talk to me or my children, all because I had said the truth. Every woman is as empowered as I am and every Pakistani woman must realize and acknowledge this too,` she said.

She added that it was time the country moved away from drafting new laws and moved towards implementing the rules to protect the rights of women.

`Our skills and talents have been suppressed far too long. The country needs our participation,` Tehmina Durrani said while lamenting that the male-dominated society had not allowed women to feel empowered.