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KARACHI, Aug 7: A Women’s Peace Commission (WPC) was launched here on Tuesday so that an environment of peace and tolerance could be encouraged and strengthened in the city.
Speaking at a press conference held at the Karachi Press Club, the WPC members, retired judges Nasir Aslam Zahid and Majida Rizvi, rights activists Uzma Noorani, Tasneem Siddiqui, Amarnath and others said that the Women’s Action Forum (WAF) had set up the commission in the aftermath of the May 12 violence in the city. They said that with the general elections fast approaching, it was feared that the city might experience another bloodbath.
Keeping this in mind, the commission intended to start approaching all political parties in a day or two to urge them to direct their members and activists not to resort to violence and ensure that their supporters did not carry weapons.
They said that the commission stood for making Karachi a dynamic, living and multicultural city for all by working for sustained peace and cleansing the city of weapons. It would encourage every political party to adopt the democratic process and include peace in its manifesto.
They said that dialogue, as opposed to violence, must be the recourse when differences cropped up and tolerance for diversity of views and identities should be encouraged.
The commission intended to start its membership drive in a week or so from the slums and katchi abadis, the residents of which were the worst sufferers of the May 12 violence, and everyone could become a member of the commission, the speakers pointed out.
They said that society had become a symbol of intolerance, hate and extremism in thought and action and was divided on the basis of class, gender, sectarian, ethnic and parochial subgroups. The writ and influence of political, social and state institutions was rapidly eroding due to non-democratic practices and these were at a high risk of becoming meaningless.
Non-democratic processes in society had allowed global forces to interfere in the country’s internal matters, the speakers observed. They said that the electoral process was a fundamental condition for democracy and peace and to ensure meaningful results, peace and security must prevail.
“Civil society and political parties must work together and make concerted efforts for establishing accountability for violation of peace and justice and to reclaim our society for ourselves,” the speakers said.
Responding to a question about what WAF or other NGOs had done when hundreds of girl students in Islamabad’s Jamia Hafsa were allegedly massacred, the commission members said that some NGOs had issued statements in the victims’ support.
They also suggested that an inquiry be instituted to find out what exactly happened in Islamabad.
