WE CAN DO IT

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.

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[1] Shad Begum is a human rights activist from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan and a recipient of international women of courage awards,

Vote for Shad Begum - The News Women

Vote for Shad Begum - The News Women

Smashing Flowers

By Shad Begum[1]

Photo credit http://www.ibtimes.co.in 

I am a mother of two children shivering with pain, anger, and helplessness to imagine the heart-wrenching agony of the mothers and fathers, who lost their innocent children in the horrific attack on Army Public School at Peshawar. The monster of terrorism has crossed all limits of warfare, destroying mosques and other places of worship, attacking funerals, and now even devouring the blood of innocent children. As a nation, we Pakistanis are at a loss to understand as to what went wrong with our society, our values, and our policies that nobody feels safe in this country. We have offered great sacrifices in the War against Terrorism yet they remain unrecognized by many people around the world.

The loss of lives of innocent school children have shook the conscience of people around the world. There are statements of condemnations and sympathies for the bereaved families. The school children in Pakistan, even in India, stood in solidarity with the parents of the martyred children. Politicians, civil society, the government, the military, the judiciary and media – all stood united to formulate a united response to the horrific tragedy of the Peshawar school attack. The Parliamentary Committee came up with an Action Plan to deal with terrorism in Pakistan, yet there are questions that remain un-answered.

Photo credit "Hamri Web"

The attack on Army Public School Peshawar is not the first horrendous crime against innocent civilians; neither is it going to be the last. Malala Yousafzai was shot by militants along with her schoolmates while she was going to school. We also remember Aitezaz Hassan, the school kid that stopped a suicide bomber to explode himself in the school morning assembly. Aitezaz Hassan deserves the highest respect of this country, who sacrificed his budding life to save other mothers from weeping their hearts out. The sacrifice of Aitezaz should have a constant reminder that terrorists will not spare even school children, but we quickly forgot the tragedy and didn’t take appropriate measures to protect our schools. While this is true that the government cannot provide security to every school, there must have been an exercise to identify vulnerable schools and should have devised a security strategy for them.

We must look deeply inwards to search for answers. There should have been a judicial commission to understand the causes of the Peshawar school attack; fix responsibility and avoid future happenings but the government felt content with setting up a parliamentary committee to devise a policy but unfortunately policies are not always implemented.

The civil society has come up with an equally strong response by organizing vigils and protest against apologists of the attack. It is important to organize such events regularly so that the tragedy is converted to our national strength and resolve to end intolerance and extremism in our society.

We must also keep in mind that terrorism is a problem of regional and global dimensions. The reforms in FATA have long been overdue. We need to terminate the sanctuaries of terrorists who use inaccessible or poorly governed areas in Pakistan. The mainstreaming of FATA in national development is the first step towards a peaceful Pakistan. The people of FATA need local government institutions like other Pakistanis to solve their local problems without looking to the federal capital for every problem solving.

We should also seriously think about the militants’ rehabilitation and reintegration in the social life. These militants have been taught this way of life for years and punishment is not the only solution. After every conflict, countries and government take special measures to reintegrate militants to normal life.

Peace is not possible without a just society. Pakistan, both at the State institutions and society level, must take sustainable steps to counter the menace of militancy and intolerance. While a military response to the problem of militancy becomes inevitable in certain circumstances, it is the overall causes that we have to reflect on to address this challenge that is now threatening our future. We must revisit our domestic and external policies; invest in education and human development, and promote values of tolerance, peaceful coexistence, and mutual respect to progress ahead.

  

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[1] Shad Begum is a human rights activist from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan and a recipient of international women of courage awards.

Regional Cooperation to Meet Global Challenges - The 5th Bosphorus Summit

By Shad Begum[1]

The process of globalization of the world economy and the telecommunication systems through the internet has changed the shape of global businesses and trade. It has not only provided new opportunities for growth and investments, but has also made old modes of productions useless, thus leaving many job markets redundant. Globalization has given shape to new complexities in trade and investments with little space for dialogue and cooperation, especially among regional countries. To understand these complexities and meet the challenges, the International Cooperation Platform (ICP) in Turkey organizes Summits since 2010 to provide a platform for dialogue to political leaders, government representatives, academia, media, civil society and philanthropists. ICP is a ‘the International Cooperation Platform (ICP) is an independent institution founded with the principle of enhancing proactive multilateral and inter-disciplinary cooperation for sustainable development’.

This year, the topic of the 5^th Bosphorus Summit was: “Changing Scenarios of Tomorrow: Capturing Complexities and Cultivating Dialogues”. The Summit was graced by Abdullah Gul, former President of the Republic of Turkey, and was attended  by, , among others, leaders such as Lord Lamont, former Chancellor of Exchequer of UK, Her Royal Highness Shaikha Farihah, Princess of the State of Kuwait, Ms. Pohamba, First Lady of Namibia, and Mr. Shaukat Aziz, former Prime Minister of Pakistan. Mr. Aziz was the key note speaker for “In the light of recent transformation, how to Construct Economic Trust and Confidence in Europe, North Africa and Middle East?”

The three days conference in Istanbul thoroughly discussed important topics such as New Dynamics and Paradigms in Global Trade and Investment, Financing Infrastructure Projects, Solution Platform for Sustainable Future, the future of the World Banking and Financing the Sustainable Future and Development, Bridging the Gender Gap, New Technologies in Communication and Transportation, and Emergence of Smart Cities etc.

Turkey is one of the most developed Muslim countries with an annual GDP of approximately 820 billion USD for the year 2013. Agricultural products, textiles, home appliances, motor vehicles, ships and other transportation equipment are some of the major components of Turkish economy. The common history, heritage, and geographical proximity of Turkey with the Middle East and North African countries (MENA) makes it a major player both globally and regionally; especially given the fact that it bridges two continents: Asia and Europe.

Unlike many other developing countries, Turkey has mostly resolved its national questions and has set up its State direction. Turkey was the bastion of the Ottoman Caliphate and the centre of Islamic power before the First World War, but it has resolved the question of State and religion. Istanbul, also called the city of mosques, is heralded with mosques yet the tolerance for other faiths is inspiring. Turkey has also intelligently addressed some of its ethnic and regional issues by engaging the Turkish Kurds in a peaceful dialogue for the last one and a half years. Pakistan can learn from Turkey in dealing with the Baloch issue in Pakistan. With its modern infrastructure and developed human resource, Turkey is well-set to lead on many fronts, especially among the Muslim countries.

Apart from the official discussions, it was most enlightening experience to visit the Topkapi Palace, which was the seat of power of the Turkish Sultans for almost four centuries and the centre of court intrigues as shown in the popular TV play “Mera Sultan” on Pakistani channels. Apart from other attractions, the Palace has invaluable pre-Islamic and Islamic relics including the cloak and sword of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). It has been declared as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985 and attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists from around the world each year. Side by side with the Topkapi Palace are the Blue Mosque with its exquisite domes and minarets, and the Aya Sophia Museum.

The Cappadocian caves and underground city in Kaymakli Central Anatolian region, dating back to the 1600 BC Hittite civilization, is the major attraction for foreign tourists. Going through inside narrow caves and passages, one is reminded of the ingenuity of human spirit by constructing such cities underground in rocks but at the same time it speaks of the human brutality as these people went inside underground cities because of fear of attacks by other human beings.

Konya – the city of the saints – is a unique spiritual experience for Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Maulana Rumi lived and taught in this city. I felt blessed to attend a Sema – the religious dance and music by Dervishes – on the occasion of the Shab-e-Urs (birthday of Rumi) celebrated each year on December 17^th and attended by lovers of Rumi from around the world. To feel the love, kindness and spiritual energy created by the Sema is a breathtaking experience. The world can become a better place with the love message of Rumi, which is none other than the message of Islam.

While visiting Rumi’s tomb produce a different feelings, to be inside the tomb of Shams Tabriz, the teacher and beloved of Rumi, is an indescribable experience. Shams is conspicuous by his silence during his lifetime and in his resting place. During these trouble times, the message of peace and love by Rumi can change the course of history and create a better world for Muslims and non-Muslims alike. One feels the urge to follow Rumi in his invitation when he says:

“Come, Come, Whoever You Are

Wonderer, worshipper, lover of leaving

It doesn't matter

Ours is not a caravan of despair

Come, even if you have broken your vow a thousand times

Come, yet again, come, come.”

[1] The author is a human rights activist from Pakistan and an Honorary Member of the High Advisory Council of ICP.