Khawar selected as new NCSW chairperson

Islamabad

The Parliamentary Committee on Appointment of the chairperson National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) on Wednesday unanimously finalised the name of women rights activist, researcher and former NCSW Chairperson Khawar Mumtaz for the next three-year tenure of NCSW chairperson.

The decision was taken in the meeting of Parliamentary Committee held under the chairpersonship of MNA Tehmina Doltana.  Other Parliamentarians who attended the meeting included Nighat Shakeel, Kulsoom Perveen, Samina Abid, Asma Mumdot and Seema Mohiuddin Jameeli.

The prime minister, after consultation with Leader of the Opposition, sent three nominations for consideration of the Parliamentary Committee. The three names included Professor Dr Farkhanda Zia from International Islamic University (IIU), Technical Advisor to Women Parliamentary Caucus Huma Chughtai and rights activist, researcher and former NCSW Chairperson Khawar Mumtaz.

The committee invited all three nominees to appear before the meeting where they were interviewed by the committee members. Following that, the committee discussed the credentials of candidates and unanimously confirmed and forwarded the name of Khawar Mumtaz to the prime minister for her appointment as the next NCSW chairperson. No member from Pakistan People’s Party attended the meeting.

“The PPP member sought postponement of the meeting due to their engagement with their leadership on Joint Parliamentary Session but considering the fact that the process of the selection of NCSW chairperson could not be delayed any further, the committee consulted with the PPP members before the meeting,” said Tehmina while briefing the media persons.

Tehmina said that all candidates had extensive experience of working for women empowerment. “It was a difficult decision to select one from such strong candidates. For Khawar, we mainly considered her extensive experience on women rights and continuation of work in NCSW,” said the Chairperson adding that she has signed the summery which will be sent to prime minister for formal notification of NCSW chairperson.

After 18th Amendment, the NCSW, established in July 2000, is currently the main federal level body responsible for the protection and empowerment of women in Pakistan. The tenure of last Chairperson Khawar Mumtaz ended on December 31, 2015. Due to delay in the appointment of next chairperson, the commission was dysfunctional for past nine months.

Talking to The News, the new Chairperson Khawar Mumtaz said that her priorities for the next three years would be to institutionalize the Commission through development of mechanisms, finalization of rules and regulations and recruitment on 100 sanctioned posts.  

“We will establish the mechanism to engage with Parliamentarians and provinces,” she said adding that the Commission had already formed inter-provincial groups during the last tenure but the task for next three years would be to make those linkages functional and more result oriented.

Khawar said that the Commission would not be taking over the role of any other institutions. “The commission would rather be strengthening and facilitating the institutions responsible for the empowerment and protection of women.

Talking about the challenges, she said that one of the main challenges for women empowerment is the lack of authentic data and baselines. “We were working in this direction during the last three years and will continue the same in the next tenure.” 

For women empowerment, she said that the priority areas would be the elimination of violence against women and enhanced economic empowerment and political participation of women.

“We would also focus on the continuation of projects initiated during the last tenure. For example, we planned a survey with an objective to identify obstacles in the way of women development. The work on this project stopped after the end of my tenure. My aim would be to take forward all such initiatives,” she said.