By Shad Begum[1]
It is indeed a moment of great pride to see
aspiring women from Malakand Division willing to take leading roles in the
political processes. Women have faced difficulties in the past in Malakand
Division to cast their votes in elections, let alone to contest elections as
independent candidates. The “Jamhori Maidan Programme (JMP)” of the Association
for Behaviour & Knowledge Transformation (ABKT) is aimed at empowering
women and youth in the political processes at the local level. During the last
18 months, 120 women have been trained as potential candidates in the upcoming
elections in three districts of Malakand Division. Women and youth have been
trained in leadership skills, local government systems, and constituency
building and election campaign methods.
Women have raised issues of public concern along
with their male colleagues and more importantly some of these women have now
been nominated as members of the District Committees on the Status of Women (DCSW)
in the three districts i.e. Lower Dir, Upper Dir and Malakand of Malakand
division. These women committees are statutory bodies established under the
Provincial Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW) Act, 2009 of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa and have important functions in promoting gender agenda, preventing
gender-based violence, and recommending policy reforms to the provincial
government. Trained women leaders have created a space within the political
parties in leadership positions and have proven their political skills in promoting
the rights of their women folks in their constituencies.
The JMP was also successful to organize the trained
women into a sustainable forum known as Gender Responsive Actions Forum (GRAF).
A panel discussion was organized to launch the GRAF in which representatives of
the National Commission on the Status of Women (NSCW), the Provincial
Commissions on the Status of Women (PCSW) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa & Punjab
provinces expressed their views on the challenges and successes of the NSCW and
PCSWs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces.
Women activists from Upper & Lower Dir and
district Malakand attended the panel discussion organized by ABKT at Islamabad.
The purpose of the panel discussion was to highlight the achievements of the
trained women activists from Swat-Malakand region under the JMP to enable them
to share their experiences with leading women rights activists from Pakistan,
and interact with members of the two provincial commission and the national
commission on the status of women. Young women leaders from Swat-Malakand
region shared their views with the participants on working for women’s
political empowerment in a challenging environment and requested support from
provincial and national bodies working on women rights.
Ms. Meraj Humayun Khan, MPA and member of the PCSW
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was the first province to
establish the PCSW under an act of the assembly; however, the performance of
the PCSW KP is hindered by a number of factors, including the non-existence of
a women development ministry at the provincial level. “Women empowerment” is
the last part of the Social Welfare, Ushar & Zakat, Special Education and
Women Empowerment Department of the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Ms. Meraj
also said that the voices of millions of women from FATA remain excluded in the
PCSW due to absence of representation from FATA.
Another member of PCSW KP, Dr. Saba Gul Khattak
said that women empowerment agenda has been dove-tailed to the social welfare
department as if women’s rights is a charity work. Dr. Saba said that a
disempowered government department cannot produce required results in the area
of women empowerment.
Ms. Romana Bashir, member of PCSW Punjab, said that
Punjab PCSW is established in 2014 and all the members have been appointed
representing each Division in Punjab. She said that the PCSW is gaining
momentum under the dynamic leadership of its chairperson – the laws and
policies are being reviewed by the Commission to bring it in conformity with Pakistan’s
national and international commitments on promoting women rights agenda.
Ms. Farah Bajwah, research consultant of the NCSW
said that the National Commission was established in 2000 as a result of
Pakistan’s national and international commitments such as the Beijing
Declaration and Platform for Action, 1995; and National Plan of Action (NPA)
for Women, 1998. She said that the latest legislation on NCSW provides greater
autonomy to the Commission in its functioning.
Mr. Muhammad Raza, a legal & development
professional and human rights activist highlighted the unique constitutional
status of provincially administered tribal areas (PATA) and Article 247(3) of
the Constitution of Pakistan, which bars direct legislation for PATA and FATA
unless approved by the President or Governor through an official notification.
He said that ironically elected representatives from PATA cannot legislate for
their own constituents but can do so for the rest of Pakistan. Mr. Raza said
that unless a demand is created by a provincial or federal department to extend
a particular law to PATA or FATA, the legislation remains non-operational in
the tribal areas. He cited the example of section 310-A of the PPC (punishment
for giving a female in marriage or otherwise in badal-i-sulh), which has not
been extended to PATA so far due to lack of demand by concerned
departments/ministry. Pro-women laws are delayed, sometimes for years, to be
extended to PATA due to constitutional and bureaucratic procedures.
Ms. Maliha Hussain, a nationally known women rights
activist advised the young women leaders to know their rights and stay put to
achieve them. “Only a determined effort and clarity of mind can pave the way
for reaching your goals”, she told the aspiring young women leaders from
Swat-Malakand region.
Ms. Fatima Atif, another women rights activist,
highlighted the technology driven violence against women and advised women to
be aware of digital security and the penal laws for cyber and digital crimes.
She said that the intelligent use of technology and effective digital laws can
prevent crimes and violence against women.
We hope that GRAF will go a long way in promoting
gender agenda in Malakand Division initially, which will be expanded to the
entire Khyber Pakhtunkhwa subsequently. The future plan of action of GRAF
includes election observation and establishment of Gender Watch Committees in
each district of Malakand Division.
[1] Shad Begum is a human rights
activist from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan and a recipient of international
women of courage awards,
