ISLAMABAD, April 7: Pakistan People's Party Women's Parliamentary Policy Committee has criticized the prime minister's adviser for women development for opposing PPPP initiatives in parliament on women issues.

The committee at a meeting on Wednesday condemned Neelofar Bakhtiar for asking the PPPP to withdraw its bills to make way for some legislation proposed by the adviser.

The meeting was presided over by president of the committee, Sherry Rehman and attended by MNAs Dr Azra Fazal, Beelum Husnain, Shakeela Sheikh Rashid, Yasmin Rehman, Shamshad Bacchani, Ruqiya Soomro, Naseem Chaudhry and Shagufta Jumani.

The meeting rejected the adviser's move as an obvious and reprehensible political ploy on issues which in principle should have been acceptable to all progressive parties. It was also noted that when the PPPP asked the adviser to inform the House about the details of her own bill, she was even at this stage unable to provide it.

The PPPP women's committee also offered to join hands with all political parties, including the government, on these issues if they wished to pursue such legislation, but the PPPP's bills were prevented from going to the relevant standing committee, where all amendments and discussions could have taken place.

In sharp contrast, the meeting noted that the standing committee that discussed the National Security Council Bill, which would shift the centre of power from parliament to an unelected president-in-military uniform, bypassed all opposition members in that committee and allowed the bill for first reading in a matter of 35 minutes. The meeting condemned this militarization of democratic forums.