Govt urged to ensure women’s participation

Fata reforms process 

PESHAWAR: The young men and women from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) on Friday urged the federal government to ensure equal participation of women in Fata’s integration process.

They were speaking at a seminar organised by the Fata Youth Empowerment and Development Association in connection with the International Women Day at the Peshawar Press Club. The participants said there were over 50 percent women in Fata, but they had no access to fundamental and constitutional rights.

Speaking on the occasion, Bacha Khan Trust Educational Foundation Managing Director Dr Khadim Hussain said that quota system for Fata women was a step toward backwardness. “The women and girls shall have separate universities and colleges in the tribal belt [Fata]. Unfortunately, there is no women university in Fata. Likewise, basic health units (BHUs) in the tribal belt have no local lady doctor or nurse. In order to empower women in the true sense, the government shall ensure they have equal opportunities in the reforms process,” he said.

Opposing the Riwaj Act, Khadim Hussain said that there was no clear definition of tradition, which makes the act controversial. He said that equal share in economic system would politically empower women in Fata as it was need of the hour.

Fata Youth Empowerment and Development Association Chairperson Mehreen Afridi said that women in Fata remained voiceless and invisible in the reform process initiated by the reforms commission.

While urging the federal government to respect aspirations of those living in Fata, including women, she said that women should have equal participation in the reforms process and their economic, social and political rights must be safeguarded. Chairperson of the Da Hawa Loor, a women’s rights group, Khursheed Bano, Chairman of the Khyber Youth Forum, Amir Afridi, ex-president of the Fata Lawyers Forum, Karim Mehsud, representative of the Tribal NGOs Consortium, Zar Ali Khan Afridi, Director Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs Fata Secretariat, Muhammad Nawaz, and representatives of the Fata Students Federation and Fata Youth Assembly also participated in the event.

The participants unanimously agreed to establish a joint working group of civil societies, parliamentarians and policymakers to integrate the gender inclusion and women empowerment in the reforms process.