ISLAMABAD, Aug 31: When the country is witnessing worst kind of violence against women, the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) is running without its chairperson and members, Dawn has learnt.

Justice (retired) Majida Razvi, the last chairperson of the commission, completed her stint on March 8, and since then its affairs are being looked after by the ministry of women development on an ad hoc basis.

The NCSW, whose constitution was hailed as a milestone in women’s emancipation by President General Pervez Musharraf, is being discriminated against by those at the helms of affairs, said an official in the women development ministry.

Had the commission been fully functional, cases like that of Sonia Naz and Mukhtaran Mai would have been taken up for their satisfactory redressal, the source said.

The commission was set up on July 17, 2000, through an ordinance promulgated by the president and formally inaugurated on September 1, 2000. Besides the chairperson, it consisted of 19 members: two each from the four provinces, one each from Islamabad, Azad Jammu Kashmir, Northern Areas and Fata, one representative from the minorities, three scholars and three ex-officio members — secretaries of the ministries of finance, law and the interior.

An official source at the ministry of women development, which provides secretariat support to the commission, said a summary for the appointment of the chairperson had been lying with the Prime Minister’s Secretariat for quite some time.

It’s a routine in government organzations that whenever a chairperson completes her/his tenure, the quarters concerned take some time in the selection of the next one, the source said.

When asked about the nominated members of the provinces who had already completed their terms for more than one year, the source said the provinces had been asked for their nominations, but without further development.

The commission is mandated to review women-related laws, policies and other measures taken by the governments, to monitor institutional mechanisms for the implementation of these policies, undertake research and interact with civil society and the public.

The objectives of the commission are: emancipation of women, equalisation of the opportunities and socio-economic conditions among women and elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.

During the last couple of years, the NCSW remained in the limelight as it recommended the repealing of controversial Hudood ordinances.

The commission constituted a special 16-member committee which after months of deliberations recommended that the Hudood ordinances should be repealed.

However, despite occasional promises by the president, the prime minister and in charge of the women division, the recommendation has not been brought to the parliament for discussion.