The Hindu : National : Women empowerment becomes a reality in rural Pakistan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 19, 2004

National

National

Women empowerment becomes a reality in rural Pakistan

By Aarti Dhar

NEW DELHI, JULY 18. Winds of change are gradually sweeping across rural Pakistan with women's participation in social and political development increasing beyond expectation. The silent revolution began in 2001, when the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, introduced the system of local self-governance that ensured 33 per cent reservation for women at the lowest level, the union council (equivalent of gram panchayat), and 17 per cent at the tehsil and district levels.

"It is a silent movement where 40,000 women across Pakistan have come together to work for the development of women," says Bushra, a union council member from Sargodha. The elected and nominated women representatives of the three-tier system of local self-governance have formed a Women Councillors Network that specifically takes up the cases of women. The network now has more than 800 members and provides free legal aid, education and medical help to women in distress.

Bushra is member of a 29-member delegation of councillors from Pakistan who are here on the invitation of the Institute of Social Sciences (ISS) to study the successful implementation of the Panchayati Raj system in India. The delegation, which has come under the banner of Pattan, a non-governmental organisation, will visit West Bengal, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala during their 10-day stay here.

The changes are not confined to the urban or developed districts in Pakistan but are visible even in the backward tribal areas of Baluchistan where women did not have the liberty to step out of their houses till recently. "A new culture and thinking has emerged in the region. With 33 per cent representation in the local self-governments, there is more stress on girls' education and health care," says Khalil, a tribal councillor who also admits that bringing about this change in the mindset is not an easy job. "We also have Citizens Committee Board where day-to-day problems of the people are discussed and resolved," he says.

The establishment of new local bodies has ended the traditional collector regime and the "nazim," an elected member of a district council, is the executive and political head of the system. Since he has under him 11 departments, the resolution of problems is more effective.

"Women now have a voice. They insist on filing of FIRs if they have been wronged and pursue them till the end unlike earlier when women did not even complain," says Robina Tahsin, member of the Tehsil Council of Rawalpindi. If the FIR is not registered, the complainant can go to the 10-member Public Safety Commission, a statutory body, where again two members are women.

There are women's homes for those in distress and non-formal schools for girls who cannot attend regular schools for various reasons. "These schools are run under the supervision of women councillors," says Ome Kalsoom Seyal, member of the District Assembly, Muzzafargarh.

Impressed by the success stories of Panchayati Raj, the councillors now want to study the system and take back their experiences for implementation in their country. This also is part of the grass-roots level people-to-people contact between India and Pakistan to improve the relations between the two countries. "We are all here with the message of peace."

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