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Pakistan Receives Indian Delegates for the Relay
By A.Saleha Athar
Welcome Report of the Women’s Global Charter for Humanity in
Indian delegates came to
On July 25th, we left
- Resistance Movements.
- Role of women in Democracy.
- Poverty and violence.
A
press conference was also held to highlight the passage of the Charter.
A session was held to receive the quilt and present the Charter. It was
a very nice programme. After that, we took out a procession with
banners and posters. About 600 women and men participated in the
procession.
The Indian Delegate left
CROSS BORDER SOLIDARITY
NATIONAL DELEGATION TO PAKISTAN
( July 24 to 27, 2005 )
“To walk over the Wagah
border to Pakistan was like a dream come true”,
said one member of the National Delegation to Pakistan as part of the World
Relay of the “Women’s Global Charter for Humanity” & the Solidarity Quilt.
We walked over the border and into the warm welcome of our Sisters in Pakistan,
who had gathered at the border. The slogans raised, the rose petals showered,
the garlands exchanged along with the colourful banners and placards created a
special moment in the history of the women’s movement of both countries.
The programmes organized by the World March Co-ordination committee both in Lahore
and in Karachi brought together many people’s organizations, Trade Unions,
Women’s organizations working among labour, bonded labour, children, working on
women’s issues, in the anti-globalization movement, and in the movement for
Human Rights and civil liberties.
A special session with the women’s wing of the
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) whose National leader is Ms.Benazir Bhutto,
concluded on the note that the signatures of one man on a Peace Declaration is
not going to bring about Peace among nations, it is the people who will define
peace and ensure Peace among people and between nations.
The cultural and creative expressions on women’s
issues through songs and drama was good and it also gave us an insight into the
situation of women and girls. Two
Seminars on “Poverty and Violence against women” and “Role of Women in
Democracy” brought together a wide range of writers, journalists, activists,
government and non-government workers. Shashi Sail tracing the Violence &
Poverty at the global level, very emphatically said that speaking on behalf of
the women of the world, as part of the World March of Women, “We
do not give permission to leaders like President George Bush and others to
invade our countries and violate our liberties and rights; usurp our resources
for their greed and profit”. She further emphasized that we,
who vote governments to power, should not give the leaders the right to
negotiate on our behalf with any of the International Financial Institutions
like the World Bank, IMF, ADB, WTO etc. for any loan for development, as these
loans impoverish the people and specially women causing much violence in their
lives.
The visit concluded on a note of hope &
solidarity and a special bonding among the women of India & Pakistan. The
need to organize more such exchanges among women, specially the young women of
both countries was felt by the organizers of Pakistan and India. We made a
commitment to work to make it possible.
Mahasamund, India, Shashi Sail
Women from Pakistan and India to Fight Discrimination |
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Women from India and Pakistan have pledged a fight against the black laws and exploitative forces working against women. Speaking at a seminar on “Poverty and Violence on Women” in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi, Shashi Sial, who headed an eight-member delegation from India comprising activists from different non-government organizations, said women were most affected by poverty. World March of Women Pakistani NGOs Aurat Foundation and Network for Women’s Rights jointly held the seminar in connection with the ongoing celebration of the adoption of the Global Charter for Humanity in Kigali, Rwanda on December 10, 2004, by the World March of Women. World March of Women is a movement comprising women’s groups of diverse ethnic, cultural, religious, political, and social backgrounds, of different age groups and sexual orientation. Patriarchy and capitalism Sial said patriarchy was oppressing women and capitalism enabled a minority to exploit the vast majority of women and men. “These systems reinforce each other. They are rooted in, and work hand in hand with, racism, sexism, misogyny, colonialism, slavery, and forced labor. It gives rise to the rule of multinationals and unequal distribution of wealth, which thus creates both poverty and violence,” she elaborated. Shashi stressed creating a situation where people of both India and Pakistan had control over their resources and could use it equally thus eradicating poverty and violence. Issue same “We cannot wait for poverty to end and then suppress violence against humanity, especially women. Poverty and violence are not sequential,” said Dr Mehnaz Fatima, an economist and columnist from Pakistan. Dr Mehnaz said: “Women’s issues in India and Pakistan are the same. They need to be looked at from a macro-economic perspective but more significantly a micro-economic thought should also be given to the issues. There is a need to strengthen women both economically and psychologically. Only the psychological strength and the realization that a female is a human being and as important as a male, will make her resist violence.” She said the psychological treatment of the patriarchal society in the Indo-Pak subcontinent did not encourage women to raise a voice against violence and discrimination. Violence Koely Roy, an activist from Calcutta, India, rated the daily violence against women worse than the atrocities committed during the wars. According to her, 45 women are raped in one day in India, which means that one woman is raped after every 32 minutes. Women are paid 30 to 40 per cent less wages than their male colleagues for the same job. Circumstances for women working in the agricultural sector are getting worse with every passing day. “The impact of globalization has created the worst challenges for the developing countries like India and Pakistan. The whole mindset needs to be changed and the struggle for women’s economical and psychological enhancement should continue,” Koely said. Feudalism Iqbal Haider, the Secretary General of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said women would not get their rights until feudalism came to an end. “Women’s rights movement should move faster,” he said. Justice Shiak Usmani from Pakistan said that women from both India and Pakistan would have to work together for a solution to their problems. To end feudalism, he said, men and women have to make efforts together. Sidha from India said: “In India it does not matter how much education a woman gains, she faces violence as she is discriminated upon. Women are pressurized there even today, she said. Police do not register cases in which women have been tortured. 50 per cent women face hardships. Waqar Mustafa |
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Published in DW-World. de
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Poverty, violence not sequential: Dr Mehnaz
By Farhat Anis
KARACHI: "We cannot wait for poverty to end and then suppress violence against humanity, especially women. Poverty and violence are not sequential," said Dr Mehnaz Fatima, the well-known economist and columnist while speaking at a seminar titled, "Poverty and Violence against Women" held at the Sidco Centre on Wednesday.
Elaborating, Dr Mehnaz added, "women’s issues in India and Pakistan are the same. They definitely need to be looked at from a macro-economic perspective but more significantly a micro-economic thought should also be given to the issues. There is a need to strengthen women both economically and psychologically. Only the psychological strength and the realisation that a female is a human being and as important as a male will make her resist violence."
Accordingly to Dr Mehnaz the psychological treatment of the patriarchal society that we have in the Indo-Pak sub-continent doesn’t encourage women to raise a voice against violence and discrimination.
Aurat Foundation and Network for Women’s Rights jointly held the seminar in connection with the ongoing celebration of the adoption of the Global Charter for Humanity in Kigali, Rwanda on December 10, 2004, by the World March of Women. The most prominent feature of the seminar was the presence of an eight-member delegation from India comprising activists from different Indian NGOs.
The leader of the Indian delegation, Shashi Sial said that the World March of Women is a movement comprising women’s groups of diverse ethnic, cultural, religious, political, and social backgrounds, of different age groups and sexual orientation. Shashi believed that the diversity in their movement further unites them rather than be a divisive factor. According to Shashi, patriarchy is the system oppressing women and capitalism as the system that enables a minority to exploit the vast majority of women and men.
"These systems reinforce each other. They are rooted in, and work hand in hand with, racism, sexism, misogyny, colonialism, slavery, and forced labour. It gives rise to the rule of multinationals and unequal distribution of wealth, which thus creates both poverty and violence," she elaborated.
Shashi while rejecting any foreign influence stressed in creating a situation where people of both India and Pakistan have control over their resources and can use it equally thus eradicating poverty and violence.
Koely Roy, an activist from Calcutta, rated the daily violence against women worse than the atrocities committed during the wars. According to her, 45 women are raped in one day in India, which means that one woman is raped after every 32 minutes. Women are paid 30 to 40 per cent less wages than their male colleagues for the same job. Circumstances for women working in the agricultural sector are getting worse with every passing day.
"The impact of globalisation has created the worst challenges for the developing countries like India and Pakistan. The whole mindset needs to be changed and the struggle for women’s economical and psychological enhancement should continue," added Koely.
Justice Shaiq Usmani urged the women to come out on roads and raise their voice in the parliament houses, as in his view, this was the only way for women to get the long-awaited due rights and justice.
Noted Human Rights’ lawyer, Iqbal Haider, Indian
activist Sudha Vargese, MPAs from MQM, PPP, PML (F) and leaders from
Sindhi Tehreek also expressed their views on poverty and violence.
Published in : The International News
KARACHI: Women’s role in politics stressed
KARACHI, July 26: Speakers at a seminar on Tuesday stressed that women
would have to wage a long struggle to get their due rights which though
guaranteed by the constitution were not being given to them by the
male-dominant society.The seminar on “Role of women in democracy” organized by an NGO, Strengthening Participatory Organization, was attended among others by Indian women delegation that is on a visit to Pakistan as a part of the World Relay March of Women for Peace.
Leader of the Indian delegation Shashi Sail, her team member Dr Seema Sakhre, MPA Shazia Mari, Dr Kaiser Bengali, Anis Haroon of Aurat Foundation, columnist Zahida Hina, Huma Baqai of Karachi University, Saleha Ather of Network for Women’s Rights, SPO’s Harris Ali and others spoke at the seminar.
Shashi Sail urged the women to get organized and take active part in the politics as they could not get their rights unless they reached the corridors of power where the decision making was done. And it was only possible through political process and democracy, she stressed.
She said that democracy should give voice to the voiceless and power to the powerless and guarantees the special place for the dispossessed. She said that though this ideal condition had not been achieved in India too, yet the situation was getting better with passage of time as at present over 1.2 million women were active part of the political process and were safeguarding the rights of the women at the decision-making forums.
Ms Sail said that unfortunately women were only remembered or called when their votes were required. However, she expressed hope that the situation would improve with continuous struggle.
Dr Seema Sakhre said that launching a struggle or a movement for rights was comparatively easier in a democratic set up rather than in a military dictatorship.
She said that women in her country had launched many campaigns. One of such movements was the Chipko (hug) Movement, which had been launched by women to save forests. Women used to hug trees so that loggers could not cut them, she explained, and said that the movement became popular throughout the world and was replicated in many other countries.
In the same context, she said that they (Indian team) were refused Pakistani visas a few days back but Pakistani women struggled and the government changed its decision and visa though very late and at the last minute was issued to them.
MPA Shazia Marri pointed out that a nation could not progress in the true sense if half of its population was not allowed to play its due role in economics, politics or any other sector.
She regretted that the true democracy had never been allowed to take its root in the country by the establishment. She said even in these circumstances the women, whenever given a chance, had proved that they were equally efficient to their counterparts in all fields.
Earlier, the visiting delegates Shashi Sail, Koely Roy (Kolkatta), Vasanth Kannabiran (Hyderabad Daccan), Dr Seema Sakhre (Nagpur), Sudha Verghese (Patna), Prathina Mishra (Bhopal) and Nailini N. Paul (New Delhi) attended a seminar on “Resistance Move-ments in Pakistan”, held by Labour Education Foundation.
Vasanth Kannabiran, Dr Tahira Khan, Ghani Zaman Awan, Nisar Shah, Nasir Mansoor, Saeed Baloch, Mahnaz Rehman, and others addressed on the occasion.
The speakers urged the vulnerable classes and the oppressed masses to get organized and mobilize other suppressed to launch a joint struggle so that they could get their due rights that the exploiting elite classes were not giving them.
Vasanth Kannabiran, a member of the Indian delegation, said that women in her country had launched many movements and had succeeded in getting their targets.
Citing an example, she said, women launched a movement to get the liquor banned in Andhra Pradesh. The government did not agree to ban liquor. The movement, she added, achieved such a momentum that the state government collapsed.
Commenting on the newly-introduced devolution system in Pakistan, another speaker pointed out that although a number of women had entered the politics through the reserved seats nothing much had changed. He said an increased number of women in politics was not a result of any struggle but the government wanted to show that women were empowered here.
Mentioning that capital is allowed to travel freely across the globe under free trade policy, the speakers demanded that workers and labourers should also be allowed to travel across the borders without any barriers so that the fruits of globalization could reach the masses.
It is pertinent to mention here that the seven-member delegation has come here as a part of the world relay march, which started from Brazil on March 8. After passing through 50 countries in three continents, the march is expected to pass through over 150 countries and conclude at Burkina Faso in Africa on Oct 17, 2005.
The activists are carrying a quilt inscribed with Women’s Global Charter for Humanity, which was adopted at Rawanda. Each one of the countries from where the activists pass is adding a 55cm piece of cloth to the quilt highlighting the issues being faced by women.
The Indian activists will hand over the charter and the quilt to the Pakistani activists, who are scheduled to fly to Azerbaijan.
Published in : Dawn Internet Edition
