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PAKISTAN: Deserted Women’s Help Centres Speak of Apathy

Zofeen Ebrahim

KARACHI, Mar 8 2007 (IPS) - Climbing up the flight of rickety wooden stairs leading to the two-room government women’s centre in this southern port city can be frustrating. The deserted look reveals a lack of interest in women’s issues, even among the people’s representatives.

”But then, those sitting in parliament and the senate are also products of a society which thinks nothing of a little bit of wife beating and where subjects like sexual harassment, incest or marital rape are taboo or too embarrassing to be discussed openly and where some actually think such evils cannot exist in a Muslim society,” said Mubina Agboatwala, who heads the non-government coordination committee that supervises the working of the centre.

The constitution of Pakistan enshrines gender equality. Yet women and girls are frequently sold or killed like cattle to settle scores or preserve family honour, physically assaulted, have noses chopped off, are paraded naked in public, molested, or raped.

In Pakistan, there is little to cheer on International Women’s Day despite the recent passage of the Women Protection Bill (WPA) in November, amending two of the five ‘Hudood Ordinances’ – laws promulgated by the military dictator Zia-ul-Haq in 1979 and widely condemned as anti-women.

The WPA was followed by the ‘Prevention of Anti-women Practices Bill 2006′ to further safeguard women’s rights which outlaws forced marriages, practices that prevent women from inheriting property and child marriage, among others.

However, rights groups remain sceptical. “You can have as many laws and the state can open up any number of centres as they want to, but that may not stop the violence meted out to women. The abuse can only stop if society is made aware of the evil, and the perpetrators are punished,” says Agboatwala.

Considering that Pakistan is a country where violence against women is all pervasive, one should find a flurry of activity at the women’s centres – of the phone ringing incessantly, of psychiatrists attending to battered women and of lawyers preparing briefs. Instead the centres are deserted.

Zia Ahmed Awan, an advocate heading the Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid, describes the Karachi centre as “haunted” to emphasise the lack of patronage.

These women’s centres were established and managed by the federal ministry of women development (MoWD) in different cities ‘to provide relief/support on emergent basis and rehabilitate the survivors of violence and women in distress’.

According to the ministry’s website, ten such centres have been established in Islamabad, Lahore, Sahiwal, Vehari, Rawalpindi, Mianwali, Peshawar, Kohat, Quetta and Karachi. Another ten are being established in Faisalabad, Sialkot, Bahawalpur, Hyderabad, Mirpur, Sibi, Abottabad, Multan, Mirwala and Nawabshah.

The fact that these centres have been opened shows the government does acknowledge an important human rights issue though implementation is poor.

The women’s centre is hardly a place for women to bare their woes. The atmosphere is far from friendly and, according to Awan, the staff “very unsympathetic” to those who come with their complaints. “Their mindset is the same as our police who look down upon women who make their personal problems public.”

“Being a federal government project, there is lack of commitment and coordination and worst of all no guidelines on how to run the place. The social workers do not have the capacity or are sensitivity to handle victims. It’s terrible and I’m glad I’m not handling it anymore as there were far too many bottlenecks and you could hardly ever get things implemented,” said Awan. He was the first chairman of the non-government management committee that was set up to supervise the working of the centre.

“Even the financial proposal does not cater to the basic needs like food, toiletries etc for a woman who has fled from home. Not even a toilet for them,” agreed one of the managers on duty, requesting anonymity.

‘’There is no privacy for a woman to tell her woes. There are no funds provided to turn this place into a welcoming centre for those in distress,” she added.

Data offered by the Karachi centre from April 2005 to December 2006 showed a total of 449 complaints of which only 226 were resolved. These ranged from sexual assault to unlawful marriages, property related cases, trafficking, dowry disputes, domestic violence, rape, murders and honour killings.

Started in April 2005, with partial funding from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), these centres are run by the federal government. Of the four in the province of Sindh, only the centre in Karachi is functional. But even that is barely managing to stay afloat.

“The centre is like any other project, but on paper only,” said Nuzhat Shireen one of the committee members belonging to Aurat Foundation (AF), a non-government organisation (NGO) working for women’s rights. She lamented that what could have been an excellent institution has been a victim of government red-tape, corruption and inefficiency. “The objectives for which the centres were established have not been fulfilled. And when we give our suggestions, they are not even incorporated in the minutes of the meetings that take place.”

”I am pained to see the way money being squandered on holding seminars, meetings and the centre’s one vehicle being misused. This could have been put to better use for the betterment of battered women and those who are victims of violence,” said Awan. “It’s a big sham, money-wasted, time-wasted venture where the output is naught. It’s like any government department where favours are exchanged. Even that would have been alright if the appointed people were efficient. Sadly that is not the case.”