RAWALPINDI, Aug 5: Women councillors lash out at their male counterparts, Nazimeen and Naib Nazimeen for their non- cooperative attitude.

The women councillors, belonging to various union, Tehsil, and district councils of Rawalpindi were speaking at a roundtable conference on “Voices of women councillors”, organized by Pattan Development Organization in collaboration with the Embassy of Finland at a local hotel on Monday.

The conference was organized to review the performance of the women councillors after completion of the first year of installation of local governments in the country.

Ms Kaija Illendar, the charge d’ affaires at the Embassy of Finland, was the chief guest on the occasion.

The women councillors said they were not consulted, while setting an agenda for council sessions. Moreover, the sessions of the councils are not held regularly, they said. They said as almost all the members of the councils belonged to various political parties so most of the precious time was wasted in useless political discussions.

The councillors criticized the negative role of the male councillors who, they said, did not encourage them to present their views in the house. “Our suggestions are not taken up seriously during the session”, one of the councillors said. She said male councillors treated them as “special persons”.

The women councillors said they were never consulted while preparing development schemes in their areas and no development funds had been allocated for them. They also criticized the officials of various government departments who, according to them, also did not cooperate with them.

Another woman councillor said Nazimeen did not even consult them while distributing relief goods among the flood victims, last year. She also accused the Nazimeen of not distributing the whole amount, released by Baitul Maal, among the flood victims. “Due to this situation, a gulf has been created between us and the voters”, she said.

Another point discussed by the participants was lack of financial support by the government. “Nazimeen and Naib Nazimeen have been given funds and transport facilities, despite the fact that they belong to rich and influential families, while we are working only as volunteers”, a councillor said.

They lamented that the government did not arrange training programmes for the women councillors. Due to lack of training, they said, the women councillors had been facing various problems while handling some administrative matters. They said most of the councillors were not aware of their responsibilities and powers.

The women councillors asked the government to provide them funds for development projects according to their proportion in the local government.

Despite all these hardships, the councillors claimed they had solved several problems in their respective constituencies.