PESHAWAR: Finally Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government notified here on Tuesday the 15-member Provincial Commission on the Status of Women and retained the old chairperson for the next term.

The PCSW, which was dysfunctional since September 2016 after completion of term of its previous members and chair, is expected to have more autonomy after passage of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Commission on the Status of Women Act, 2016. However, PCSW is going to have the same chairperson with a mix of current and former MPAs from various political parties, business, academia, media and non-governmental sector. On a positive note a member would also represent religious minority.

The PTI government has reappointed Neelam Turo, an Islamabad-based former Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf activist, as chairperson of the commission. She would be heading PCSW for the second consecutive term of three years.

Two MPAs including Naseem Hayat, representing the ruling PTI, and Uzma Khan of JUI-F, representing opposition, as per the Act, have been appointed members of the commission.

PCSW likely to have more autonomy after passage of new law

Uzma Khan is also appointed for the second consecutive term in the commission while she is enjoying second term as MPA on reserved seat in the provincial assembly too.

Former MPAs Nargis Samin of QWP and Shagufta Malik of ANP have been appointed members of the commission for the first time. A businesswoman Shamama Arbab, PTI activist Advocate Robina Naz and Islamabad-based Dr Saba Gul Khattak have also been re-appointed for another term.

Samina Imtiaz, another Islamabad-based head of a private organisation, is a new member of the commission. Assadullah (lawyer), Seema Sabah Riaz (member Zakat and Ushr Committee and Khwendo Kor) and Robina Massey, also heading an NGO, have been appointed new members of the commission.

Dr Anoosh, chairperson gender studies department of University of Peshawar, and a journalist Asif Nisar Ghayasi have also been appointed members of the commission, according to a notification issued by provincial social welfare, special education and women empowerment department.

The secretary of social welfare department is also a member of the commission, according to the notification.

“We have been facing many challenges and problems due to lack of administrative and financial autonomy,” admit Neelam Turo, who hoped that under the new Act the commission would have more powers to run its affairs. She added that the commission had shrunk as staff left the job after payment of salaries stopped to them for the last five months or so.

The commission had been successful in reviewing and finalising Women Empowerment Policy Framework during its previous three years term but it faced hindrances in recommending and lobbying for legislation on some of the most burning issues like domestic violence, child marriages and burning by throwing acid.

“The Domestic Violence Bill was politicised. JUI-F opposed it and Council of Islamic Ideology called it un-Islamic. We would try to see what valid observations they had and would move it now once again for it to become a law,” said Ms Turo.

The past three years have been tough for PCSW as all its efforts and consultation on domestic violence turned to ashes when the PTI government for the first time in the history of the province sent a draft prepared by PCSW called Domestic Violence Bill to Council of Islamic Ideology instead of sending it to provincial assembly. The Women Caucus is still toiling and looking at the bill all this while PCSW was dysfunctional.

Although Ms Turo says she would push for legislation on women issues including domestic violence, there is little hope the outcome of their efforts would be any different now as very little has changed since she was out of town.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2017