LAHORE: Civil society organisations have voiced concerns over the removal of Fauzia Viqar as chairperson of the Punjab Commission for the Status of Women (PCSW), through a notification issued by the Women’s Development Department (WDD), on May 21.

According to the notification Ms Viqar’s services have been terminated with a month’s notice. It states that the termination of her contract was done under clause 4 of the terms and conditions of her contract appointment.

Ms Viqar could not be reached for comment. Jamshed Kazi, country director of the UN Women, tweeted that he was ‘dismayed to hear the sudden removal of Ms Viqar as Chairperson PCSW’. He described her as an unshakable pillar of support and the government was left with big shoes to fill.

Among the milestones that PCSW achieved under Ms Viqar included establishment of a Gender Management Information System which provides data and insight into gender disparities in the province, ensuring women access to employment and leadership positions, trainings of nikkah registrars at the local government level.

A tweet by the PCSW itself asked where the inquiry was that the PCSW Act of 2014 asks for, before removal of the chairperson. Dr Mehdi Hasan, on behalf of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), also released a statement on the matter, saying the HRCP was deeply concerned at the way Ms Viqar was removed summarily from her position by the government of Punjab.

PPP leader Farhatullah Babar also tweeted: “The arbitrariness with which Chairperson PCSW was removed is condemned. Due process and procedure is not being followed and whimsical orders are issued from Banigala. Pakistan is not a monarchy nor an Imran caliphate. It is democracy, and rule of law must prevail. Decision must be reversed.”

The ruling party faces questions for the least representation of women in cabinets.

On the condition of anonymity, a source told Dawn that one of the higher officials at the WDD was constantly acting as a hindrance to Ms Viqar’s work. “The removal seems to be based on political and personal motivations both,” said the source.

Minister for the WDD Ashfa Riaz Fatyana, however, said there was nothing personal at all in the removal; in fact it was solely the chief minister’s decision. “In any case she had come without any proper procedure, so the next person who is appointed by the CM will be chosen through a proper procedure.”

Ms Fatyana also said that in future things would be different for the commission as well as other similar bodies functioning at provincial level. “Whoever will be there will be doing this work in future will be doing it voluntarily as we do not have the funds to pay high salaries,” she said.

Nighat Dad, however, said the clause 4 of the act clearly mentions the chairperson’s pay scale and that under legislation it was mandatory for the government to pay therefore it was implausible how they expected anyone to be instated on a ‘voluntary” basis, unless that person refused salary on their own.

She said Ms Viqar did not have any political affiliation and had been chosen on the basis of merit.

“As a lawyer I don’t really understand what the violations are because of which she is being removed. I see this notification as invalid, because Government was supposed to inform the citizens the reasons why it is taking this decision. It is their democratic right to know. I believe this way of removal can easily be challenged.”

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2019