Lahore( PR), April 29, 2010: Representatives from Khyber Pukhtunkhwa; Baluchistan; Sindh; AJ&K; Gilgit Balistan and Punjab met for a two day consultation on Women, Conflict and Security. The event was organized by ASR Women Resource Center, Lahore. The discussion highlighted both inter and intra state conflicts and the impact of these on women. Women living within these conflict zones/areas shared the experiences of living within the conflicts highlighted women’s vulnerability.
It was highlighted by different speakers that women living on the edges of the unresolved territorial dispute with India are particularly vulnerable at several levels especially since these areas have been sites of war. Even in peace times they have to contend with the dangers of border policing and land mines etc. This not only impacts on women living on the Line of Control (LOC) and Working Borders but also on the hard borders dividing Pakistan and India.
The discussion observed that Baluchistan has suffered direct military action by the State and in the recent past several thousand people have been internally displaced and several thousand ‘disappeared’ including 300 women. Female family members also face the constant challenge of looking for male members of their families and themselves being vulnerable to arrest. Rape and other gender based violence as a result of these conflicts rarely get attention.
Khyber Pukhtunkhwa has been the site of intense conflict in the recent past and over the last year been a war zone. The situation of internally displaced women, the specificities of the vulnerability and insecurity of women living in war zones has not been given adequate attention and nor have processes been initiated that would facilitate rehabilitation physically, economically, psychologically and a life without fear. Sindh and particularly Karachi is increasingly caught in a spiral of conflicts whether ethnic or because of territorial interests of contending groups. Again women tend to be the most vulnerable either directly or as these conflicts impact on their economic and psychological wellbeing.
However the experiences, voices and opinions of women are seldom included in peace negotiations, resolutions and reconstruction either by the state or by contesting forces and communities. This despite Pakistan’s commitment to the Platform for Action ratified at the UN Conference for Women in 1995; the National Plan of Action of 1998 in which this issue is addressed and the UN Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security to which Pakistan is in agreement.
The participants resolved that Pakistan must address this issue with urgency. Women must be involved in all peace processes and resolutions and women rights must never be subsumed in the interest of expediency. Only this will ensure a lasting peace and ensure a just, peaceful and equitable Pakistan.
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