Date: 4th Feb 2012
Women's rights
THE approval of the National Commission on the Status of Women Bill 2012 is a significant addition to the country’s growing body of legislation aimed at protecting and empowering women. On Thursday, the Senate unanimously passed the bill that envisions the establishment of a commission with the mandate to examine policies, programmes and other initiatives on women’s rights and gender equality, and to make recommendations to the relevant authorities. It will review existing legislation, rules and regulations that affect the status of Pakistan’s women and suggest repeal, amendment or new legislation as required. With permission from the provincial government concerned, the committee will also have the power to inspect women’s detention centres such as jails and sub-jails.
All these constitute an improvement on the earlier National Commission on the Status of Women, which was set up under a 2000 ordinance but was considered a toothless mechanism. Women rights campaigners started advocating for increasing the commission’s power and independence a decade ago, and while the delay is regrettable, it is nevertheless encouraging that the step has finally been taken. It is hoped that the National Commission for Women will prove a more effective forum than its predecessor. Some provisions for ensuring this have already been made, such as giving it financial autonomy and a more representative composition. In contrast to the NCSW, the NCW has also been given the power to hold an inquiry if a complaint concerning the violation of women’s rights is not being pursued properly. The new law upholds the useful provisions of the earlier ordinance and adds to them.
Everything depends, now, on the constitution and operational efficiency of the commission, which should be set up promptly. There is little doubt that in many areas, discrimination against women has become institutionalised and some blue-sky thinking is required. Meanwhile, there remain on the books certain laws that are, in their current form, widely seen as having an adverse effect on the rights of women. An interested and independent commission could play a crucial role in this respect. The caveat here, though, is that the NCW – like its predecessor – does not have any implementing power and can merely make recommendations. Will the implementing wings of the state be willing to listen? That will be the litmus test for the government’s commitment to women’s rights.
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Trade concessions
THE European Union’s limited, one-time trade concessions for 75 items from Pakistan will remain a symbolic gesture of goodwill on the part of the 27-nation bloc unless the package actually graduates to the Generalised System of Preferences plus permitting duty-free access to our exports into its market. The tariff concessions, mostly for textile products, were announced unilaterally for two years to help put the country’s economy back on its feet in the aftermath of the devastating floods of 2010. The package included products constituting 27 per cent of imports worth 900 million euros from Pakistan to the EU. Its implementation was delayed because of its opposition by Bangladesh, India and Brazil. Even though the original package offered little to Pakistan as it encouraged the import of raw material and left out our main textile export, home textiles, the changes made to it in the shape of an increase in the number of items covered by tariff rate quotas to 20 from the original eight, with a view to appeasing the opposition, will further dilute its impact on our economy and exports. The quotas will be set at 20 per cent above the average of Pakistan’s exports in 2008, 2009 and 2010. This threshold in the case of the most popular textile products like women’s jeans will be crossed in just the first two months, thus attracting normal tariff for the rest of the year.
Still, the package could be used to persuade the EU and other World Trade Organisation members to give duty-free market access to our exporters in view of the huge economic losses Pakistan has suffered as a frontline state in the war on terror during the past decade. The last two years of massive flooding in large parts of the country have only aggravated the agony of the people in the face of industrial closures, falling private and public investment, rising job and export losses and soaring prices. While grants and other financial assistance from the EU and US are important, jobs will be created only if new investment is made in industry, which largely depends on our ability to increase exports to the EU and America. If the two want to help Pakistan’s economy and its people, they should stop dragging their feet on the issue of granting greater market access to its exporters.
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Political rivalry
LAST Wednesday, the federal government expressed a desire to take up the issue of the latest Difaa-i-Pakistan Council meeting with the Punjab government. This was at best a political statement for the consumption of an assorted audience – in the absence of an administrative arrangement that would oblige provinces to respond to the centre’s queries in such matters. The issue was the participation of a leader of a ‘banned’ group in the DPC rally in Multan on Jan 29. Given that eyebrows have been raised about the recently founded DPC and its politics, the presence of Malik Ishaq, the leader of the ‘banned’ and very militant Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, could not go unnoticed by the PPP-led government. The latter took the opportunity to follow up on the N League-LJ thread that goes back to the League’s public courting of prominent Lashkar members for votes in a by-election in Jhang some time ago. The highlighting of the link catered to all those who are upset with the mixing of national politics with various brands of jihadis. Equally or perhaps even more importantly, it was an opportunity for the PPP to try and hit at the PML-N’s credibility with jihad-wary international players.
This is surely not a matter of principles, for principles are as routinely flouted in Pakistani politics as bans are violated and ‘defunct tags’ worn as medals of gallantry. Basically, it has to do with how political parties here – those in power and their challengers – go about identifying and pleasing their allies in a particular situation. The current PML-N government in Punjab has generally kept its distance from the PPP-led set-up in Islamabad. Punjab has been particularly keen to show off this gap over the centre’s approach to the war against militancy. This gap will increase as the election comes closer and the manoeuvring for power intensifies.
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