Islamabad - Women senators have passionately called for appointment of new chairperson of National Commission on Status of Women (NCSW), the post that has been vacant since January 1.
Senator Sitara Ayaz said that she had raised the issue in the house twice but still the matter is pending, she told APP. She said that seven women had applied for the post of chairperson and according to procedure, three names are to be short-listed. Till now, names have not been short-listed, she added.
“All work is pending, no legislation, no progress on ongoing projects and no follow-up on the efforts for women rights, just due to absence of the chairperson,” she remarked. She said Pakistan has signed a number of international treaties on women and human rights issue. Senator Samina Abid said that for the last two months, some violent incidents against women incidents had been reported in the country but no voice was raised from NCSW because of the vacant slots of chairperson and members of the commission.
She said provincial commissions are doing their work but facing difficulties in accomplishing their task as there is no coordination from the federal level. The projects of the commission are currently redundant which result in lapse of funds, she added.
She also called for including members of the commission from all segments of society including representatives of all political parties, philanthropist, people from civil society and human rights activists.
A consultant of the commission informed that the chairperson had retired on December 31, 2015, while the tenure of members was completed in April and till now, consultants are running the day to day business but they will also retire on June 30 and no policy work would be done after that.
She further stated that the commission office was set up in a residential building which was vacated and the staff was shifted temporarily in two rooms of ministry of human rights. Almost 15 staff members are working in only two rooms, but it is not possible to get new building as there is no approving authority, she said.
Besides that she said, the process of hiring of 101 approved new posts for the commission was also pending just because of the vacant post of head of the commission.