As part of Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) and its’ Afghan partner, Organization for Economic Studies and Peace’ (OESP), efforts to promote constructive people to people contact between Pakistan and Afghanistan under the ambit of its Track 1.5/II initiative ‘Beyond Boundaries’, a five-member Afghan women-leaders delegation visited Islamabad, from February 16-19, 2020, to meet with Pakistani women leaders, to discuss the role of women in the bilateral relations and to devise ways to empower their role in achieving peace in the region.
The Afghan delegation, headed by Ms. Momina Yari; Member of the Loya Jirga and former Director of the Justice Department at the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, included Ms. Freshta Zuhal Rahman; Professor and Attorney at Law, Ms. Zahra Furmoly; Director of Production at National TV in Afghanistan, Ms. Ghazalan Koofi; Director for Vital Statistics and Foreigner Registration and Founder of Afghan Movement of Social and Economic Development Organization, and Ms. Safia Ibrahimkhel; Refugee Youth Representative at the UNHCR Global Youth Advisory Council.
On day one, February 17, 2020, the Afghan women-led delegation participated in a Pakistan-Afghanistan Roundtable Conference (report under separate tab below) with a five-member Pakistani delegation, some of whom had been in the first women-led visit to Kabul from December 27-29, 2019. The roundtable was followed by the Afghan women leaders’ meeting with members of Islamabad Women Chamber of Commerce & Industry (IWCCI) and Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), a meeting with women parliamentarians at the Parliament House, a meeting with DG PNCA, Dr. Fouzia Saeed, and a tour of some of the art galleries, and working dinner hosted by CRSS with some Pakistani women entrepreneurs.
The next day, on February 18, the delegates were taken to the Monument of Pakistan, followed by working lunch at Islamabad Club where they met a few more women activists in Pakistan. In the afternoon, the delegates were then taken to a seminar at Quaid-I-Azam University Islamabad where they met with some faculty members and students at the Department of Defense & Strategic Studies (report under separate tab below).
