As part of visiting Afghan women leaders’ delegation’s visit to Islamabad, on February 17, 2020, both the Pakistani and Afghan women leaders met with women parliamentarians at the Sustainable Development Goals Secretariat (SDGC) at Parliament House, Islamabad. The women parliamentarians included Ms. Shandana Gulzar Khan, Member of National Assembly (MNA) from PTI, and Chairperson Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP); Ms. Mehnaz Akbar Aziz, MNA from PML-N, and Chairperson of Special Committee for Child Rights; Ms. Sajida Begum; MNA from PTI, and National Parliamentary Taskforce on SDGs; and Ms. Nafisa Shah; MNA from PPP, and National Parliamentary Taskforce on SDGs.
Ms. Shandana Gulzar warmly welcomed the Afghan delegation to Pakistan and gave an overview of the various activities of the women parliamentarians in different committees, caucuses, and the Parliament itself. She hoped that the meeting with the visiting Afghan women delegation would pave the path for finding a mechanism which would connect and synergize the works of women in both the parliaments of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Ms. Shandana shared that Pakistan’s women parliamentarians had won the chair in the Commonwealth which works with 180 legislatures from all the Commonwealth member countries. As one of its objectives, the Commonwealth conducts meetings with parliamentarians where they are guided on how to do legislation. As Afghanistan is not part of the Commonwealth, Ms. Shandana stated that Pakistan would be happy to find a bilateral mechanism to providing training to the Afghan women parliamentarians.
Regarding the issues faced by Pakistan and Afghanistan in their bilateral relations, Ms. Shandana stated that Pakistan-Afghanistan bilateral trade, particularly, has been an activity much hindered by politics on both sides. She gave the example of the US and Mexico, which share a long border and have political issues as well, however, they have never stopped their bilateral trade. Pakistan and Afghanistan should take this as a lesson too, she suggested. She further stated that Pakistan can help Afghanistan out in the efforts to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) under the 2030 agenda of the UN of which Pakistan is a signatory. She assured the Afghan delegation that Pakistan will be ready to help and assist in all areas where Afghanistan needs assistance.
Ms. Momina Yari, head of Afghan delegation, appreciated Ms. Shandana’s overview of all activities and Pakistan’s offer to help in the area of legislation, boosting trade and achieving sustainable development goal, and suggested that it would be much better if Pakistani women parliamentarians could visit Afghanistan and meet with Afghan women parliamentarians, and vice versa to exchange views of such significance. She stated that, as democracy is new to the Afghans, Afghan parliamentarians, particularly women, need training on how to do legislation and raise their voices in a male dominated society.
MNA Ms. Sajida Begum, also warmly welcomed the Afghan delegation and emphasized on the importance of trade as well as the necessity of increasing business-to-business cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan. This, in her view, in addition to other avenues of cooperation, can greatly contribute to the strengthening of their relationship. She stated that, unfortunately, the relations between the two neighboring countries have not been as strong as they need to be. However, she stated that the negative perceptions regarding both nations need to change. In order to do these various mechanisms, need to be developed. Trade needs to be used as a building block to enable peace building between both countries. She affirmed that if women on both sides play the role of nurturing good ties, they can collectively smooth the negative perceptions and encourage a healthy partnership.
Speaking on women-to-women business cooperation between the two countries, she offered her support in helping to link up the women chambers of Afghanistan with the women chambers of Pakistan where both sides can learn from each other’s expertise, easily introduce their products in each other’s country and, thus, contribute to boosting the bilateral trade as well as ultimately improve relations. Stressing on the role of women in this regard, Ms. Sajida stated that this cooperation would be the start of a long-lasting relationship.
The Pakistani women parliamentarians then highlighted the need for creating a women-centric agenda with focus on women empowerment in Afghanistan as well, shedding light on how the women parliamentarians in Pakistan in recent years have actively worked on moving women-related legislation which has been passed as well.
MNA Ms. Nafisa Shah, stressed on the role of women in peace building, stating that joining their efforts to this end will also ensure empowerment of women on both sides. She stated that women are at the forefront at many levels in not only conflict areas but in every sphere of life. Hence, their inclusion and empowerment in the political, social and economic spheres is tantamount.
Speaking on the issue of Afghan refugees, Ms. Nafisa Shah stated that Pakistan holds the second largest refugee population in the world and they are Afghan refugees. As Pakistan has been hosting them since the last four decades, there has been a second generation being born in Pakistan, as a result of which the unregistered number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan has only increased. Ms. Nafisa also shed light on the issues that exist in the visa regime for Afghan nationals – specifically Afghan patients seeking medical treatment in Pakistan, and stated that the government was working to facilitate the visa regime as much as possible.
Highlighting the issues in child and women protection in both countries, MNA Ms. Mehnaz Akber Aziz stated that there is a need for a proper mechanism to be set up to ensure the provision of the rights of children and women in both countries, irrespective of their passports and nationalities. She stressed on creating a mechanism to facilitate capacity building programs for women, ranging from their skill development to awareness regarding how to set up an account at a bank as well as obtain a loan for a small business. She further stated that women in both countries still have a low literacy rate, which is an unfortunate reality. As a result of this, most women on both sides are not aware of their fundamental and basic rights and cannot raise their voices to register any complaint.
Women leaders on both sides discussed the need to organize future visits and discuss these matters in more detail for a fruitful collaboration of efforts. They affirmed to engage and organize meetings in the future to work towards the development and empowerment of women on both sides. They also discussed the formation of a Pakistan-Afghanistan women group to discuss specific issues relating to Women Parliamentarians in both countries and to work towards the harmonization of both, using that platform.
