PESHAWAR, Aug 29: The ministry of local government and rural development formally launched a two-year pilot project on Gender Justice through Musalihat Anjuman (GJTMA) in Abbottabad and Dera Ismail Khan districts of the NWFP on Monday.

The project, to be carried out with the financial and technical assistance of the UNDP and the support of Royal Norwegian Embassy, has been designed to assist women and other vulnerable sections of the society by improving their condition through safeguarding their rights.

The project on national level, which is estimated to cost $1.54 billion, is simultaneously being launched in six other districts of the country, including Shikarpur and Dadu in Sindh, Attock and Bahawalpur in the Punjab, and Quetta and Lasbela in Balochistan.

The Local Government Ordinance (LGO-2001) provides a basic framework for disputes to be resolved amicably through Musalihat Anjuman. The Anjuman, to be established at the union council level, is envisaged to consist of a selected panel of three persons from the community, who are publicly known as persons of integrity, fair judgment and command respect.

Under section 104 of the LGO-2001, any court where the proceedings are in pending may refer the cases to Musalihat Anjuman for its resolution with the consent of the parties.

The Anjuman is to be appointed by Insaaf Committees, which itself are to be elected by the union councils from their UC members. However, during the first tenure of the local governments, neither the Insaaf Committees, nor the panel of Musalihat Anjuman were formed due to various reasons.

The provincial department of local government and rural development organized a workshop at the Pakistan Academy for Rural Development to raise awareness among stakeholders and civil society groups about rules of business of Musalihat Anjumans.

The speakers on the occasion stressed the need for ending violence against women and providing women victims an alternative mechanism whereby they can obtain justice.

The provincial secretary LG and RDD, Baz Muhammad Khattak in his address said: “Most of the people are taking the gender cause as western agenda. Many consider it as an assault on the cultural norms, but the fact remains that women in Pakistan and elsewhere in the developing countries are exposed to discrimination in all walks of life which results in natural imbalance”.

He said that the Musalihat Anjumans would not only be used as an effective forum for curbing gender violence, but also provide an alternate dispute resolution mechanism at the grassroots level.

He said that the local governments could not concentrate on the formation of Musalihat Anjumans during the first tenure, hoping that the institution would be strengthened in the present tenure of local governments.

On the occasion, Ms Faiza Effendi, assistant resident representative UNDP’s gender unit, highlighted the UNDP’s commitments ad explained the different initiatives undertaken by it.

She said that physical, psychological and sexual abuse of women was on the rise in Pakistan. She said that effective steps were needed to discourage this trend and put an end to violence against women.

Decisions at the policy level and the enforcement of laws could lead to a society where women’s rights, as enshrined in Islam and the Constitution, could be guaranteed, Ms Effendi concluded.