12 January 2004	Monday	19 Ziqa'ad 1424

PESHAWAR, Jan 11: Women councillors from Quetta city district on Saturday urged the federal and provincial governments to introduce necessary amendments to the local government ordinances , so as to clearly define the powers and responsibilities of councillors.

About a dozen women district and town councillors, during a reception hosted in their honour by the Aurat Foundation, told newsmen that women councillors are being treated at par with their male colleagues in Quetta. However, they said the situation was different in the rest of Balochistan province.

"As Balochistan is a backward province, therefore in different districts women councillors even do not attend their respective council meetings due to the attitude of their male colleagues towards them, and the prevailing customs of the area," said Ms Tayyaba Iltaf.

Initially, she said, they had also been facing the same problem in Quetta city district, but with the passage of time due to their constant efforts and continuous training by different organisations the attitude of their male colleagues changed.

Unlike the women councillors in NWFP, who have been demanding allocation of monthly honorarium to them, the councillors from Quetta said that the district councillors were paid honorarium of Rs 5000, whereas the town and union councillors were given Rs 3000 and Rs 1000 respectively.

Similarly, they said that they were treated on equal basis with their male colleagues as far as allocation of development funds were concerned, and had launched various projects of maintenance of roads, streets, etc. in their respective councils.

The councillors, who are on a country-wide study tour organised by the Quetta city district, said that there were various lacunas in the local government ordinances promulgated by the four provincial governments, but especially the powers of different categories of councillors.

"In various areas women councillors are considered inferior to other councillors and they have even been asked not to attend meetings," said Ms Masooma Bano. She said that there was a long struggle behind the reservation of 33 per cent seats for women in the local governments and due to the same reason it remained their endeavour to fully utilise this opportunity for the betterment of women.

"Our elections on these reserved seats have helped in our capacity building and we are now even in a position to contest next elections against open seats," Said Ms Ghazala Gul.

As they were elected on reserved seats therefore they were having dual responsibilities of working for the welfare of women as well as for the people of their area, the visiting councillors said. They informed that they had established a network of women councillors in Balochistan for addressing their common problems. Moreover, they added that the councillors elected on reserved seats for women, peasants and workers had also established a councillors alliance for achieving their due rights.

Earlier, the visiting delegation met with different women councillors from Peshawar and they shared their experiences with each other.