ISLAMABAD: The Women’s Parliamentary Caucus (WPC), the primary forum for women legislators in parliament, became contentious on Wednesday when its founder and current head sparred over recent controversies that had rendered the caucus “redundant”.

Beseeching the house not to let this all-important forum become irrelevant, both WPC Patron Fehmida Mirza and its secretary, PML-N MNA Shaista Pervaiz, offered to disassociate themselves from the caucus if it would help make the forum non-controversial.

While both parliamentarians avoided directly addressing each other, it was obvious that Ms Pervaiz’ speech was meant to respond to the former speaker’s remarks, who presented a damning indictment of how the caucus had been sidelined over recent months.

“This was a step I took [when I was speaker], where all political parties were given a voice with regards to legislation concerning women. It offered a forum for NGOs or groups working on legislation to put forward their views, which could be debated by women lawmakers from across party lines,” Ms Mirza said during her speech on the floor of the house.

She attributed the passage of several pro-women laws to its establishment and praised the role of the PML-N women lawmakers, who were in opposition at the time and played a positive role in strengthening the caucus.

“But what has happened to it now? For God’s sake, don’t make this forum redundant. You can have problems with individuals but you can’t sacrifice institutions for the sake of those [rivalries].”

Without naming anyone, she claimed that someone had objections to her role with the caucus, which was why it had been sidelined and left out of the legislative decision-making process.

She recalled how the speaker of the House of Lords praised the role of the caucus and recounted how Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar had observed that this was something that India had not accomplished yet.

“Alas! The tragedy of this country is that voices that are appreciated by the world are the ones that are suppressed; whatever good has been accomplished will be rolled back.”

“Today, I’m hearing that people are ready to give it in writing that the caucus is doing nothing,” she said, imploring the house to keep the caucus alive and not let it fall prey to politicking.

“Whoever has the will, come forward and lead. I promise, the credit will go to you alone,” she concluded.

But before she was back in her seat, Pervaiz Malik, who was chairing the session, offered the mic to the current head of the caucus, Shaista Pervaiz.

“It is true that when the seed was planted, this caucus accomplished a lot, thanks mostly to the role of women lawmakers from the opposition. But today, I tell this house with a heavy heart that the opposition women of this assembly did not give us the support that we showed them,” she posited.

Ms Pervaiz, who also happens to be Mr Malik’s wife, then alluded to the unpleasant exchange between Dr Shireen Mazari and Khawaja Asif, saying that she, in her capacity as head of the caucus, had condemned the incident on the house floor and admitted that it was something that should not have happened.

“But even after those remarks were expunged and an apology — both verbal and written — was tendered, my sister [Ms Mazari] refused to accept it and expressed a lack of confidence in the caucus,” Ms Pervaiz continued.

“Institutions are not formed overnight, especially those that have brought a [good name] to our parliament and worked for the women of this country. Such an institution is falling prey to personal rivalries. I have personally asked all members to voice their concerns so we can find a solution together. But unfortunately, all my requests were ignored.”

“I have even offered to step down myself if I have not been able to fulfil the expectations of women members, but to no avail. Since it is his party members who are concerned, I request the leader of the opposition to instruct his party colleagues that this forum is no one’s personal fiefdom. The one who planted the seed should definitely get the credit, but taking it forward is our shared responsibility,” Ms Pervaiz concluded.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2016