Minister for Religious Affairs Mufti Abdul Shakoor has said the present government believes in strengthening democratic norms in the country.

Responding to the points raised by Saira Bano of GDA in the National Assembly on Thursday, he said we respect the women and the very statement made by JUI (F) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman is being distorted and presented out of context by the PTI workers.

He said it is actually the PTI which is disrespecting the women.

National Assembly resumed its session at the parliament house in Islamabad on Thursday with Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf in the chair.

At the outset, the house offered fateha for those died in recent acts of terrorism in the country and the coal mine accident in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.