Issue No. 28 April-June 2009

By S Akbar Zaidi

What made the immediate headlines of the Budget2009-10 presented in the National Assembly on 13June 2009, was not so much the substance of whatthe Budget promised - or did not, as I argue here - buta symbolic gesture which, in some, albeit limitedways, emphasised how women in Pakistan hademerged at the forefront of politics and in the publicsphere. The Budget was presented by Ms HinaRabbani Khar, State Minister for Finance, the firstwoman to present the Federal Budget in Pakistan'shistory in front of the first woman Speaker of theHouse. Clearly, the fact that the current NationalAssembly contains the largest number of womenparliamentarians - 74 - of which 14 have been elect-ed directly on general seats, challenges the constantattempts at misogyny and of patriarchy which under-mine the position of women in society, and areingrained in Pakistan's social and cultural institutionsand behaviour. Clearly, the presentation of theBudget, on grounds of symbolism, at one level, rateshigh.

Yet, there were other aspects to this symbolism aswell, which present a rather inconvenient truth aboutPakistan's democracy and its institutions. Ms HinaRabbani Khar in her budget speech, condemned and

blamed the previous government for creating manyof the problems which the present democraticallyelected government was grappling with. Yet, therather sad truth is, that Ms Khar was a high-profilemember of General Pervez Musharraf and PrimeMinister Shaukat Aziz's economic team which isnow being blamed for many of the ills that afflictPakistan. Indeed it was hypocratic for Ms Khar, aswell as for the Pakistan Peoples Party government tosay so, and to have the same Minister from an unde-mocratic government hold the same - or any other -portfolio in a democratically elected government. Infact, this fact only underscores the point that elec-tions need not bring in able and competent electedrepresentatives, or substantive change, and that indi-viduals can remain unprincipled and opportunistic byswitching political sides and still be assured of highpublic office.

A final symbolic statement that emanates from thefact that Ms Khar presented the Budget is, that sheactually has no power and little understanding offinancial issues. The real finance minister is MrShaukat Tareen, the unelected advisor on Finance.It was and has been Mr Tareen who has formedPakistan's economic programme before and afterthe budget. It was Mr Tareen who defended thebudget at press conferences and it was Mr

Tareen who wasapproached bydifferent lobbiesseeking conces-sions. Clearly, allthe bravado ofhaving Pakistan'sBudget being pre-sented for the firsttime by a woman,shows how limit-ed such symbol-ism is in essence,and that womenmust wait theirtime, and contin-ue their strugglefor equal rights, tobe in real and sub-stantive positions of authority and power.

The Economic Meltdown of 2008-09:

In order to understand how critical the 2009-10Budget was and will be for the rest of the financialyear, it is necessary to take a brief look at how thelast financial year 2008-09, has ended. Only when

Founded by Shahla Zia Patron-in-Chief: Nigar Ahmad

Ignoring Substantive Issues: The Federal Budget 2009-10

Ms Hina Rabbani Khar, StateMinister for Finance, deliveringbudget speech in the House.

Continued on Page 6

By Samar Minallah

Salima Bibi from Madyan, Swat, frantically swad-dles her newborn daughter while wiping her owntears. These are tears of both physical and emo-tional pain. The two-day old infant sweats in thetightly wrapped cloth called 'suzni'. While thenameless infant lies there motionless, Salima feelsthe suffocation generated by the tent, floor mat,and the sweltering sun of the month of June. Ontop of it all, strangers keep peeping into their tent;some out of concern, some out of curiosity.Human dignity is yet another casualty of displace-ment.

This is the story of one Salima among nearly 66,000pregnant women who are displaced as a result ofclashes in Swat and other regions of NWFP.According to UNFPA, 'some 4,375 internally dis-placed women in the Northwest Pakistan were due togive birth in June with very few trained medics andmeager facilities". A large number of women andchildren have been affected by health related prob-lems that are largely not addressed. Premature births,pregnancy complications and high prevalence ofinfant mortality are some of the consequences thatare yet to be fully tackled.

An unnoticed aspect of displacement is the loss of

privacy and 'honor' of womenfolk who are culturallykept protected from the eyes of strangers. This hasfurther confined women to the stifling tents in thecamps. Shukrullah from Bajaur Agency says, "Wemay have all been herded and dumped into thesecamps but we will still try to maintain our dignityand honor. All we can do to achieve this is to further

confine our women and children into the tents. Theircondition only grows worse. Can anyone dare tospend even a short while in these tents?" Back home,these women would go out to pick 'saaba' (spinach),wash clothes at the stream ('goodar') and movearound to attend social and cultural events. But,when it comes to their lives in these camps, privacyis not an option.

In the Pukhtun code of life called Pukhtunwali,'Honor' has always been seen as vital. There is aPushtu proverb, "Da khazay chay poza pa makh nawee, no kando kay ba mordaree khoree" ('A womanwithout 'honor' will die of misery in desolate places').Another proverb goes, 'Khazay la ya kor day ya gor'(For a woman either home or grave). The tents failto give women the culturally sensitive protection thatthey require.

For every woman here, 'home' remained herdomain, her kingdom. The plants she watered, thechickens she fed, the dung-cakes she slapped ontothe walls, all provided a feeling of purpose. Asdisplaced people, women lose the purpose. Thespirit to go on is hard to revive. In the current sce-nario, majority of tents shelter women experienc-ing feelings of alienation and helplessness. AsFarhat Bibi from Buner puts it, "I feel exposed likea pot without a lid. Anyone can come and inter-fere."

According to Professor Khalid Mufti, formerPrincipal of the Khyber Medical College, it wasobserved that 85 per cent of the IDPs examined at thecamp were suffering from anxiety, depression andtrauma-affected symptoms with partially fulfilledunmet needs of housing, clean water, congestion and

Internally Displaced Women: Problems and Needs

Continued on next page

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privacy. Panic reactions for missingfamily persons were also seen.

It is important to recognize that aninternally displaced woman's experi-ence is different from that of childrenor men. It is a crisis where age andgender play a vital role. It is imperativethat women are provided with gendersensitive and gender appropriate com-munal spaces in the camps.

Despite continued humanitarianefforts, the needs of women and chil-dren are overwhelming. Protection andsecurity are yet another concern. Giventhe vulnerable situation, women traf-ficking may be difficult to checkamongst the displaced people. In ShahMansoor Camp, a father desperatelyspeaks in front of television cameras,appealing for the recovery of his 15-

year-old missing daughter. "Sheworked as a maid servant in Peshawar.While her family fled Swat seekingprotection, she fled her workplacelooking for her parents. No one knowswhere she is! We are extremely wor-ried for her safety!"

It is important to explore the possibili-ty of devising indigenous mechanismsto protect children and women fromexploitation, violence and abuse aresultant of prolonged displacement. Alady Councilor at Mardan, who worksat the Shah Mansoor Camp, shows herconcern over the fact that 'behind theendless tents sheltering thousands offamilies, it is hard to ensure protectionof girls and women? No one knows ifgirls are being trafficked in the form offake marriages and other illegal dealssecretly being struck.'

It is because of such concerns that alarger population of the internallydisplaced people resides with hostfamilies all over Pakistan.'Milmastiya' and 'Nanawatay" or thePukhtun code of 'hospitality' and 'pro-viding refuge' have indeed proved ablessing in the face of displacementof many. Naseem Ara and twenty ofher family members have been pro-vided refuge by her distant relativesresiding in Dargai. "Our hosts canhardly make ends meet, but they haveshown us generosity and hospitalitylike real Pukhtuns. We feel secureand protected living with them. MayGod bless them!"

But those providing refuge to the dis-placed people are poor too. As aidefforts continue, the host families con-tinue to bear a burden for which they

were not prepared. Will the aid reachout to those thousands of people toowho are performing 'Milmastiya' and'Nanawatay' by sacrificing their owncomfort and space? Will we be able toasses and address their challenges andneeds?

An organized plan is needed to addressall aspects of displacement. Given thecountless problems faced by women, itis important that gender specific inter-ventions are devised. Rehabilitationprograms and policies should focus onthe need for restoring the human digni-ty of the people and the need for themto regain their self respect and identitythat they have lost.

� The author is a human rightsactivist and media specialist, associat-ed with Ethnomedia.

Internally Displaced Women:Problems and NeedsFrom Page 1

Aurat Foundation organized aFocussed Group Discussion inIslamabad on 30 June to identify issuesrelated to protection and violenceamong internally displaced womenand children staying in camps inMardan and Swabi, as well as those arestaying off-camps. Ms. SamarMinallah, a prominent human rightsactivist and media specialist, moderat-ed the discussion. Ms. TahiraAbdullha, a renowned human rightsactivist and development practitioner,and several other civil society repre-sentatives who had been working inIDP communities, gave their input.The following four main issuesemerged as the core issues.

Trafficking:The issue of women and child traffick-ing is getting worse at the camps ofIDPs and other areas where they arestaying. However, there is lack ofproper reporting and data due to gov-ernment's apathy towards the issue.Government agencies, specially estab-lished by the government (FIA,Special Branch and special cells etc.)for combating trafficking are not play-ing their role to combat trafficking atthis critical time. The NGOs communi-ty is also not taking the issue seriously.It was asserted that print and electron-ic media is silent over the issue as theyare not giving time and coverage to theissue of trafficking. Some participantsbelieved that many traffickers wereadopting girls and others were using'fake marriages' for trafficking purpos-es. They were of the view that Mardanand perhaps Swabi had become thehub of women's trafficking.

Violence:The participants while sharing theirfield-based findings said that vio-lence had increased within the IDPs'

camps due to stress on men. Due toincreasing burden and displacement,men usually target women for physi-cal violence and verbal abuse andwomen target children as a conse-quence. In fact, it's a chain of vio-

lence prevailing in the tents at thecamps. They were of the view that ifnot checked, the violent atmosphereat camps could help in producing vio-lent and aggressive youngsters, aneasily available 'potential force' for

Taliban. Some of the participantswhile sharing their field experiencessaid that most of the children eitherwanted to become a Talib or to joinarmy after growing up and goingback to their homes, perhaps as a

reaction to what had happened tothem during the 'war on terror' by thearmy or during the 'reign of terror' bythe Taliban; the prevailing conditionsmight have further reinforced theirperceptions at the camps.

Trauma:Another main issue identified duringthe discussion was trauma and distressparticularly among women. Some ofthe participants pointed out thatwomen identified themselves morewith their home and householdbelongings. When they are deprived oftheir homes, they plunge into extremetrauma and distress. One of the partic-ipants said that besides other reasons,a major reason behind trauma in oldage women was the fear of death out-side their homes or native villages.Other major reasons of trauma sharedby the participants were fear of alienpeople, abduction, loss of familymembers, destruction of homes anduncertainty about returning to theirhometowns and villages. The partici-pants were of the view that major rea-son for this uncertainty was lack ofcoordination between the people andthe government.

Health: Health facilities specifically related towomen are extremely meager at thecamps and non-existent at otherplaces where IDPs have taken shelter.They do not have enough separate toi-lets and kitchens to utilize them freelyand frequently. According to one par-ticipant, infectious diseases like sca-bies, fungus, viral infections, typhoidetc are spreading across the camps.Water contamination, poor sanitationand lack of washing facilities could befound in every camp. Women are par-ticularly suffering from alimentsrelated to reproductive organs and,but they are shy of complaining andsharing these with their elders or doc-tors, even if they are available. Apart from that, depression, insomniaand anemia are common amongwomen within the camps and off-camps.�AF Correspondent

Issues of Protection and Violence for Internally Displaced Women and Children

The FGD suggested the following:

Human dignity of the IDPsshould be protected and ensured.

As over 90% IDPs are living out-side the camps, the government,UN agencies and non-govern-ment organisations should supplyfood, livelihood items and medi-cines to them.

The Government should direct allthe concerned departments, spe-cial cells and agencies to curb andeliminate child and women traf-ficking of IDPs.

Most vulnerable groups amongwomen and children who areexposed to trafficking should beidentified

Civil society organisations andtheir activists should play the roleof vigilante or watchdog to iden-tify traffickers and their local andinter-provincial gangs. Theyshould also develop coordinationwith the government against traf-ficking.

Trauma and rehabilitation centersshould be established at campsand host areas to heal and mini-mize the influence and scale ofwar and displacement trauma.

Guidelines for combating psy-cho-social trauma within theIDPs should also be developed.

NIC cards should be issued toIDP women on priority basiswithout going into formal proce-dures that are applicable in peacetimes.

Educational institutions should bereconstructed and repaired beforethe return of the IDPs to theirhometowns; and the similar insti-tutions should be vacated inPeshawar valley before theiropening after summer vacationsby the end of August.

The participants deplored thedecision of closing registration ofIDPs and demanded of the gov-ernment to restart it as soon aspossible.

The financial assistance of Rs.2500 should be given throughjoint accounts of men and womenat household level.

Information and accurate date onIDPs at the Southern districts ofNWFP should be urgently provid-ed to media, government depart-ments and civil society organiza-tions so that they could also getrelief funds and proper shelters.

MAIN RECOMMENDATIONS

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In order to identify major issues con-fronted by IDPs, Aurat Foundationinitiated an assessment study, Januaryto April 2009, against four of the UNGuiding Principles namely ArticlesNo.1, 2, 13 and 14. The assessmentwas based on following objectives:

i. To assess linkages between humanrights activists from conflict areawith established networks;

ii. To develop a charter of demand forinternally displaced persons withspecial focus on women;

iii. To raise issues of internally dis-placed persons through advocacycampaign.

For the purpose, Aurat Foundation incollaboration with Aryana Institute forRegional Research and Advocacy(AIRRA) and Swat participatoryCouncil (SPC), organized meetings ofIDPs at Peshawar and Islamabad tofacilitate the process of informationdissemination and organization of thedisplaced persons. All the three insti-tutions and IDPs representatives areworking together as a network to sup-port IDPs, highlight their issue at therespective forums and commencelobby for their genuine right as citizensof the country.

The network representatives held apress conference in Islamabad lastmonth and shared their problems andconcerns with journalists and civilsociety representatives through a char-ter of demands. They shared the adver-saries they were faced with, especiallythe miseries of women and childrenduring and after displacement. Theywere critical of civic, political, socialand economic discrimination in theirplaces of asylum. They demanded anend to all kinds of discrimination intheir own country and appealed to thegovernment and international donorsto come forward and listen to theirdemands. The network is working toestablish IDPs chapters in all the fourprovinces.

The network is being represented byMr Ishaq Advocate at the centre andPunjab and Shad Begum at the provin-cial and FATA. AIRRA and DisasterResponse Net (DR- Net) providesspace and logistical support to the net-work at their Islamabad and Peshawaroffices respectively.

CHARTER OF DEMANDOn the basis of consultative meetings,focussed group discussions and campvisits, members of the IDPs' Networkprepared following charter of demand: In order to have peace, shall initiate

a politically vibrant process and stopindiscriminate shelling, bombard-ment and genocide of local inhabi-tants. The government must providesecurity of life, property and a lifewithout fear, end to robbery andhigh way robbery.

In order to allow food edibles toreach Waziristan, Zilla Bandi must

end and communication channels bere-opened in Waziristan.

The Government shall change its for-eign policy vis a vis policy towardsAfghanistan and unnecessary Pak-Afghan borders must be sealed.

Peace and development work to takeplace in the affected areas as well asreconstruction of all damaged prop-erty so that IDPs could repatriate totheir own areas.

The Government shall provide safepassages to IDPs so that the dead beburied back in their ancestral grave-yards.

IDPs within camps and outsidecamps be compensated for life andproperty.

The Government and civil societyshall impart skilled training (voca-tional training like stitching,embroidery etc) to women IDPsresiding in camps.

Admission and scholarship must beavailable to IDP children (fromcamps as well as those residing withhost families) in Government andprivate schools. Most of these chil-dren do not have any school leavingcertificates and are unable to getadmission in Government schools.The government, therefore, mustcome up with an alternate mecha-nism to accommodate these children.

More schools to be established with-in camps with a strong emphasis onseparate school for boys and girlsrather than co education even foryounger children.

It has been recognized that mostIDPs and specially women and chil-dren are going through post traumat-ic disorder, therefore, psychologicalcounselling is required on urgentbasis.

Health facility in GovermentHospitals shall be free of cost.

Self respect of IDPs shall be recog-nize and ensureed particularly whenfood is distributed among them.

Demands made by IDPs residing outof NWFP Issuance CNIC, Form B, Passports,

NOC, Registration of IDPs, shall beprovided under one window opera-tion.

A committee with representation ofNGOs, govt. and different advocacygroups shall be formed to resolveIDP issues.

FINAL ANALYSISAt the level of IDP policy objectivesthere has been a very little program-ming focus on women and children, awell as on peace-building, communi-cation, and advocacy activities.

Internally Dispaced Persons (IDPs), whohave been forcibly uprooted from theirhomes by violent conflict, have wit-nessed traumatic events. As a result ofwhich they (in particular women andchildren) suffer from severe deprivationand hardship. Although theGovernmentand international donororganizations (UNICEF and UNFPA in

particular) recognizes that they requireprotection and psychological counsellingbut a broad plan needs to be shapedkeeping all stake holders on board whichmust also include local NGOs, psychol-ogists and camp administration.

Most of the male IDPs are withoutwork which is increasing their frustra-tion and anger. Since Government can-not create jobs for all, still there is aneed to start vocational trainingswhich on one hand will keep thembusy and on the other impart skills use-ful once they re settle.

In the short term, the concept ofregional Lashkars comprising areainhabitants can be beneficial fromsecurity point of view but in the longterm it may backfire when they areused to taking up arms.

So far there is no state guarantee forthe safe return and resettlement of theinhabitants of Bajaur and Swat. Due tothis uncertainty there is a possibilitythat IDPs resentment towards theGovernment will only increase. Thepossibility of fresh violence and moredisplacement in the absence of anyconcrete work plan to resolve prob-lems, in the long run, would be detri-mental to both the Government ofNWFP as well as donor communitybusy in relief efforts.

The inability of political representa-tives (MNAs and MPAs) to resolveproblems faced by their constituents(inhabitants of Bajaur and Swat), andlack of preparedness by NWFP estab-lishment highlights the collapse ofdemocratic and administrative institu-tions in Pakistan.

The Government. must examine legis-lation and administrative provisionsimpacting on IDPs to conform to fun-damental human rights principles, theDeng Guiding Principles on InternalDisplacement, and where necessary.

Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)have lost confidence in theGovernment; nearly half of them donot believe that authority will foreseetheir demands. Thus state shoulddevelop special economic programmesfor IDPs and give them financial cred-its with low interests. This will helpthem to start and develop small andmiddle business.

In order to change IDPs nihilistic atti-tude towards government and to buildconfidence, it is important that theIDPs shall be invited to study theirproblems according to their priorityand to find durable solutions. Massmedia should serve as a source of dis-seminating the information.

The government shall form a state pol-icy for IDPs. The provincial govern-ment must be a part of policy forma-tion process since they are the biggeststake holders. �AF Correspondent

IDPs and UN Guiding PrinciplesThis survey report encompasses the sta-tistics that were compiled after con-ducting a survey in ten selected IDPcamps. In order to assess the reproduc-tive health, psychosocial needs of IDPwomen and their access to the servicesprovided in camps, Aurat Foundationheld a survey in ten selected districts,namely Jalozai Camp, Benazir Camp,Katcha Garhi Camp No. 1, KatchaGarhi Camp No. 2, Palosa Camp,Munda Camp, Samar Bagh Camp,Degree College Timergara Camp,Sadbar Killi Camp and Khungi Camp,and interviewed 1791 IDP women. Thesurvey was done in collaboration withfour other organization namely YouthResource Centre (YRC), PakistanVillage Development Programme(PVDP), Media Master (MM) andCommunity Research developmentorganization (CRDO).

Findings of the survey are given below:Part 1: Access to General Services. Some 81.24 % women told that

their camps have been surroundedby fencing, and 76.9 % women haveaccess to donations.

Although most of the women (78%) told that they were providedwith sufficient protection but 99 %of women at Sadbar Killi Camp andSamarbagh said that local authori-ties were not providing sufficientprotection to their families.

Part 2 : Personal Hygiene. 83.36 % women said that they use

latrines for defecation. 93.24 % of the women use cloth to

take care of their menstrual needswhile 71 % of the women sharedthat they had no proper place to takecare of their menstrual needs.

Part 3 : Reproductive Health. The distance from the tents to med-

ical services varies from 10 feet to 2kilometres.

The medical facility is not available24 hrs a day in most camp villages.

Around 94.75 % of the pregnant orlactating women were receiving nospecial food.

Part 4 : Psychosocial Situation ofWomen IDPs. 70 % of the women told that they

had no idea for how long they willstay in the camp. This uncertainityincreases stress among women.

90 % of the women replied that theyfind no proper place to sit togetherand discuss their problems.

66 % of the women discuss the cur-rent situation when they sit togetheramong their families.

Part 5: Skills Popular among Women.This part was included to collect infor-mation on type of skills popular amongIDP women living in camps so that toarrange vocational trainings for themfor trauma healing - 55 % womenknew stitching. �AF Correspondent

Aurat�s SurveyReport on IDPs

4

By Abida Swati

With the intensifying crisis in Swat,more and more displaced families arehammering in Mardan, Swabi,Abbottabad, Mansehra, Haripur andother areas of NWFP. Women and chil-dren issues are the most dauntingamong the problems being faced by theInternally Displaced Persons (IDPs)both in camps and in host communities.

Those who visited the camps haveobserved that life is miserable for thesefamilies in the sizzling heat. It is hardto imagine life in the tents with noelectricity, poor food, unfriendlyweather and poor facilities. Due topoor medical services a large numberof people, especially women, elderlypeople and children, are suffering fromdiseases like diarrhea, dysentery, skindisease, eye sore, throat infection dueto the consumption of unsafe drinkingwater, smell from filthy toilets.Provision of inappropriate food andrelief goods is another issue.

Women are afraid of the likely out-breaks of diseases among children ifthe weather got worse and the sanitaryconditions didn't improve in thecamps. The weather in planes is veryhot, even worse in the camps, whichthese mountainous people are not usedto. Many may not survive June andJuly, when temperatures may risemore.

Women hardly sleep in the night,because of the fear of snakes, rats andscorpions as there is no light in thenight and it is pitch dark, people oftenenter the wrong tents and that causesmuch discomfort for women observing`purdah'. At night, women cannot takethe young ones to the toilets becausethey fear stepping on snakes.

Lack of medicines for IDPs especiallyfor pregnant women is a problem. There

are number of pregnant women livingin different camps and with host fami-lies, but there are not enough medicinesfor these women. These women arehighly vulnerable to hot and adverse cli-matic conditions. They also have notadequate health facilities in case ofemergency. These women are in direneed of better accommodation, multivitamins, including proper food withmilk and fruits etc. Most of the womenand children in trauma need counsellingto get out distressing conditions.

Water availability is also poor.Families have to use same water tankintended for toilet as well as drinkingpurposes. Water purification tablets areprovided to families but due to lack oforientation only few women use thesetablets. The situation of pit toilets isvery bad as there is no water supplysystem to these toilets. They arebecoming breeding grounds for mos-quitoes. Moreover, absence of sepa-rate washrooms and toilets for womenhas added to their miseries. The IDPsliving in camps are provided withcooked food, prepared in Digs and dis-tributed among the people standing inqueues. Only men and children go tothese distribution points to get food.Women do not come out of their tentsto get food due to misappropriate andgender insensitive distribution mecha-nism. Quality of food is another areathat needs improvement. Most of thewomen said that they are not used toeating spicy meals but here we have to.Little kids and elderly are not able toconsume this food with lot of spices.Most of the mothers complaint thatfood distributed in camps is not goodfor children. They told that separatefood should be prepared for elderlypeople, children and pregnant women.

The mobility of women in camps andoutside camps is highly restricted, dueto strict religious norms and tribal cul-ture, which impose upon women invis-

ibility in all relief work. In order to getfood and relief items, IDPs have tostand in queues for long. Due torestricted mobility, women and youngorphan girls are, however, not able togo to the distribution points. Thus, inmost cases women are ignored anddeprived of the food and other goodsof very basic needs.

The well-being and development ofchildren is closely linked to the securi-ty of family relationships and a con-ventional environment. Internal dis-placement disintegrates communitiesand breaks down the social fabric andsupport networks including education,health, and recreation, discouragingthe foundation of children's lives.There are number of IDP families hav-ing an orphaned, separated or unac-companied child living with them.Experience from other emergenciessuggests that these children may faceincreased risks and require specialattention, such as referrals to services,family tracing, or income support tocare givers. The vast majority ofhouseholds among the host communityhave no access to recreational facilitiesfor children. There is a need to supportthe establishment of child friendlyspaces within host communities. Thesechildren are also exposed to extremevulnerability as they are out of schoolliving in unhygienic condition with noproper food, water and health facility.The children who are living with hostfamilies need a focused emergencyeducation programming.

Children - both boys and girls - misstheir school friends and books. Themajority of children did attend schoolprior to the conflict. They want to goback to school. Children desperatelyneed supports and recreational facili-ties such as swings, toys and other out-door games and equipment.� The author is associated withSUNGI Development Foundation

Harsh realities of life in displacementfor women and children According to the UNHCR report '2008

Global Trends', released on 16 June2009, one fourth of the refugees in theworld is from Afghanistan, spread in 69countries worldwide, and 96 per cent ofthem were located in Pakistan and Iran.With roughly 1.8 million Afghans stillin Pakistan, the country is host to thelargest number of refugees in theworld. According to international esti-mates, the country hosted the largestnumber of refugees in relation to itseconomic capacity i.e. 733 refugees perone dollar GDP per capita.

Having gone through, and still with, aresponsibility of such a huge popula-tion, the internally displaced persons(IDPs) adds into the responsibilityand economic crisis of the country.The number of IDPs in Pakistan hadapproached the three million mark ascompared to 156,000 by the end of2008. As far as the relief and rehabil-itation is concerned, no single agencyhas the responsibility for all of them,but the UN has introduced a 'clusterapproach' where individual organiza-tions are assigned roles in displace-ment situations based on their expert-ise. This 'cluster approach' has a sig-nificant feature of 'people with spe-cific needs to be cared by specificorganizations'.

According to the data released by theEmergency Response Unit of theProvincial Relief Commissionerate,Government of NWFP on 17 June2009, the number and status of IDPsis as under:

This crisis situation, which the inter-nally displaced persons are goingthrough, does carry along somespaces or opportunity for displacedpersons especially women who other-wise had little space for exposure andinteraction. One such opportunity,with lasting impacting in the long run,is the legal literacy and training towomen IDPs on their legal and con-stitutional rights as well as awarenessagainst discriminatory laws and prac-tices stands . This legal literacy ongender rights would at one hand safe-guard women and girls against anyimmediate threat of gender-specificviolence in this situation of lawless-ness, while on the other hand it willpave way for realization of women'slegal rights and gender equality.Another component of this awarenesscampaign would be women's right toland and inheritance.

The load onPakistan

Exposure andopportunities

Number of IDPsRegistered by NADRA

268674

Number of IDPs in NewCamps

164886

Number of IDPs estimated off the camps

3725938

New Authority to Handle IDPs in the Offing: The NWFP gov-ernment is mulling establishing a new authority to deal withthe facilitation of the IDPs from Malakand Division and theirrehabilitation. Name for the proposed office is yet to be final-ized. It is said that the government was considering a namequite similar to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority(PDMA), which is already on the ground with little visibilityin the recent IDPs crisis. Official sources told that the need forestablishing the new office was felt following question marksat the role of the existing offices in the rehabilitation of theuprooted people. Besides the rehabilitation and facilitation ofthe IDPs, the officials said the proposed authority would beresponsible for holding talks with donors about aid for the dis-placed people and their sending back to their respective areasand rehabilitation there. Presently, the central government isinteracting with the donors and the aid coming from the inter-national community for the affected people is chanelisingthrough the federal government. Sources said the provincialgovernment was unhappy with the centre over conceding a

small chunk of aid to NWFP for the displaced people andkeeping major portion of the amount with it or spending itthrough centralised organisations. The sources said the provin-cial government was likely to register a protest with the feder-al government for releasing advertisements directly to news-papers regarding distribution of books among the IDPs' chil-dren. They said the provincial education department was notinformed in this regard. In reaction, the provincial governmentwas likely to register a protest with the logic that it was theprovincial and not the central government that should distrib-ute books to the IDP children according to its curriculum. Theproposed authority would also help create harmony in therelief activities for the IDPs as more than three governmentagencies, namely the Provincial Disaster ManagementAuthority (PDMA), office of the Relief Commissioner, theEmergency Response Unit (ERU) under the provincial ReliefCommissioner and the Special Support Group of the armedforces are involved in relief activities these days.� Courtesy:PGF, The Researchers

Disaster Management Authority for IDPs?

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Editorial BoardNaeem Mirza, Wasim Wagha

Letters, opinions and contributions are welcome.Please write to House 19, Street 1, G-6/3, IslamabadTel: (051) 2277512 - 2277547, Fax: (051) 2822060Email: lwprs@af.org.pkWebsite: www.af.org.pk

The country had not yet recovered from the after-maths of October 2005 Earthquake, which resultedin deaths of thousands of peoples, destruction oftheir abodes and livelihoods and dislocated millionsof them from their native homes, the war againstterrorism and recent army operation in NWFP dis-placed around 4,000,000 people to end up in campsand with the host communities mainly in Mardanand Swabi. These internally displaced persons, bet-ter say peoples (IDPs) are forced to live likerefugees in their own country and face the crisis offood, shelter, education, uncertainty about future, aswell as the crisis-induced violence which mostlyfall upon women and children.

For years, the world dealt with the refugees and theinternally displaced peoples without realizing thedifference between the two: contrary to refugeeswho have to cross borders and end up on foreignlands where they are alien with no rights, the IDPsare dislocated within their borders of citizenship andwithin the scheme of their inborn cultural and con-stitutional sphere. The fact that recent displacementis a result of a planned army operation, make anoth-er difference between the two that if refugees comeas 'un-expected' pressure for any state, the IDPs areusually an 'expected' consequence for which thegovernments are supposed to be prepared.

This experience points to prevailing gaps in thegovernment and all concerned institutions: One,despite the fact that the army operation was verymuch planned, the government and the army didnot prepare themselves for such a huge displace-ment of their citizens, neither in terms of receivingthe displaced in an organized way nor for provid-ing emergency relief. Two, the registration of IDPsand preparation of disaggregated data and rightassessment of relief and basic human needs, isanother sector which point to incapacity of nation-al institutions and available human resource.Three, lack of national policy on internally dis-placed persons (IDPs).

Every crisis also brings some opportunities, for thegovernment as well as the crisis-ridden citizens. Forthe government and its line agencies, this is anopportunity to identify the gaps and deficiencies andprepare for: the development of 'national policy onIDPs'; establishment of permanent funds for such asituation and training the staff of existing PakistanDisaster Management Authority (PDMA) for effi-cient and proper registration of the 'displaced' andprovision of emergency relief; gender mainstream-ing of all government institution and capacity formaintaining gender disaggregated data.

EDITORIAL

By Zubeida Mustafa

Since the Pakistan Army launched its offensiveagainst the Taliban in Swat and Fata a massive dis-placement of humanity has taken place in that region.The Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), who wasforced to flee their homes in the face of heavy bom-bardment and artillery fire, found their miseriesintensified by what was in store for them. They hadalready been suffering at the hands of the Talibanbefore the war uprooted them. Since their evacuationwas unplanned and no preparations had been taken inhand they faced immense agony while escaping fromtheir towns and villages - they had to walk for milesfor days-- before they reached a sanctuary whichwas at best a camp set up by the government in theNWFP with rudimentary facilities.

As such many of them travelled south to Punjab andSindh where they had relatives - the migrant labourwho finds work to eke out a living in the majorcities. This migration created a reaction in the localpopulation. In Sindh the IDPs' entry, which began asa trickle in November 2008 to pick up by May 2009,has now assumed serious political implications. Theprecise number of the IDPs in the province is notknown because they are not being registered. No

camps have been set up. At one point it was decid-ed to register them so that information about the dis-placed people would be available and they could beprovided assistance in an organized manner. But theprocess was so ineptly undertaken that one does notknow if any work has been done on that and if reli-able data has been collected.

Meanwhile most IDPs are being supported by theANP or their own families. In the absence of organ-ized assistance and with not enough finances avail-able, the plight of the displaced is by no means envi-able. Most of them are living in crowded conditions,do not have sufficient food to eat and lack health-care. Their children do not have access to schools.

Without any organized source of information aboutthe IDPs which only registration can providearrangements are difficult to make. The Sindh gov-ernment has allocated Rs200 million in its 2009-2010 budget. The irony is that the ANP and otherssympathetic to the IDPs feel this amount is toosmall. But Sindhi nationalists and the MQM whohave opposed the influx of the IDPs are not happyat any sum being allocated for them. They fear theIDPs will not return home and thus upset the ethnicbalance in Sindh.

IDPs: Constraints and Fears

In order to discuss the issues of the InternallyDisplaced Persons (IDPs) in the Upper House, MsFarah Aqil Shah, Senator from NWFP and memberLegislative Watch Group, Aurat Foundation,Peshawar, submitted a resolution in the Senate ofPakistan on April 23 2009. The text of the resolu-tion is produced below, as an effort to highlight thegood work done by women parliamentarins:

"I would like to draw your attention to the fact thatsome families of internally displaced persons are

forced to live outside their campus provided by thegovernment in Peshawar. They are not registered asa result is not getting any aid. They are vulnerableto all sorts of troubles. The government is requestedto take immediate notice of the matter and provideall necessary facilities to the aggrieved families"

The resolution resulted in a detailed discussion inthe Upper House on the problems being faced byIDPs, both inside and outside the camps, particular-ly the plight of women and children.

Resolution on IDPs in the Upper House

Members of the National Commission on the Statusof Women (NCSW), at a recent meeting inIslamabad, discussed the problems and difficultiesbeing faced by women who had left their homes inSwat and other areas of NWFP, and were living incamps or with friends and relatives. The meetingwas attended by members from the four provincesand the Federal Capital and was presided over by theNCSW Chairperson, Ms Anis Haroon. After themeeting, Ms Anis Haroon and Ms Rukhsana AhmedAli, member from Balochistan, visited camps set upfor Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Peshawarand Swabi to assess the situation, especially asregards to women and children.

The Commission was concerned about the conditionof women and young girls, which is particularly dire,mainly because of oppressive social norms that forcethem to remain imprisoned in tents, often withinfants, in stifling heat. It was noted that women,especially those who had no male family memberwith them, were finding it difficult to register and toobtain food and other relief. Several women werepregnant and needed special care.

Women who met the NCSW team complained thatthe Taliban had made their lives very difficult byrestricting their movements and stopping them fromworking. They also complained that neither the gov-ernment nor the elected representatives came to theirhelp or provided security. Young boys describedhow the Taliban brutally cut people's throats andkilled people for petty reasons.

Though children are now being attended to, andsome arrangements for their education are also beingmade, many are traumatized and urgently need psy-chological counselling. The Commission recom-mends that special arrangements must be made forchildren to continue their studies that were disruptedby the conflict.

The Commission expressed its concern that inci-dents of sexual abuse of children are also beingreported; and recommended that of IDPs themselvesshould be given an active role in managing and mon-itoring of relief and protecting the vulnerable mem-bers from such abuse and exploitation. Local peoplehave been generally helpful, but some were alsoexploiting the situation. Landlords were charginghigh rents and women were being persuaded to selltheir jewellery at abysmally low prices. There weredisturbing reports that some unscrupulous elementsmay be involved in trafficking. The governmentmust investigate if these reports have any substance.

The Commission stresses that it is the right of IDPsas citizens of Pakistan to move to any part of thecountry and provincial governments and politicalparties should not restrict their mobility.

The Commission also emphasized that an effectivestrategy must be developed to confront and counterthe ideology of talibanization and extremism thatseeks to deprive women of their basic human rights,destroy our culture and civilization, and that hasunleashed so much violence in society.

NCSW�s Concerns on IDPs

6

we get an understanding of the extentand impact of the economic meltdownthat has taken place, will we under-stand the urgency for substantive inter-ventions to revive the economy and tocreate conditions for high growth withincreasing employment and lowerpoverty.

According to the Pakistan EconomicSurvey 2008-09 released a day beforethe Federal Budget, Pakistan's growthrate of its GDP is expected to be 2percent, at best. The target set forGDP growth a year earlier was a mere4.5 percent, but even this fell short bya huge margin. Moreover, the 2 per-cent growth needs to be seen withregard to the GDP growth rate of afew years ago, when on average over2004-08, it had been around 7 per-cent. By all standards, Pakistan's GDPgrowth has been dismal and in fact, isthe lowest this decade. This low ratewill have major repercussions on thequality and standard of life ofPakistanis, for employment and forpoverty. With the large scale manu-facturing sector showing a decliningrate of minus 7.7 percent since lastyear, it has only been the agriculturalsector due also to favourable weatherconditions, that has allowed evensuch low levels of growth to persist. Abad crop due to poor weather condi-tions could have resulted in muchlower growth.

Unlike earlier years where GDP hasbeen as low as it has in 2008-09, whatmakes the last fiscal year far worse, isthat it experienced the highest infla-tion rate, of around 23 percent, overthe last forty years. Low GPD growthis bad on its own, but along with highrates of inflation, life for all Pakistanimen and particularly women who areresponsible for managing the house-hold budget, has worsened consider-ably over the last twenty months or so.Food prices, in particular, soared toannual rates of inflation at times cross-ing 25 percent. The low growth andhigh inflation, have probably affectedpoverty and employment. ThePlanning Commission of Pakistan hasstated, that Pakistan's poverty rates arecloser to 40 percent today, implyingthat almost every second Pakistani isbelow the poverty line. While exactfigures are hard to come by, there is nodenying the fact that poverty musthave risen over the last two years onaccount of the factors identifiedabove.

Other negative features worth high-lighting from the Pakistan EconomicSurvey include the fact thatPakistan's tax-to-GDP ratio is a mere9 percent, the lowest in the region,with indirect taxes contributing abouttwice as much as direct taxes.Indirect taxes are regressive taxes, inthat they have a greater incidenceproportionally on the poor; direct

taxes are usually income based andprogressive in that they tend to taxthose with higher incomes at a higherrate. There has also been a devalua-tion of the Pakistani rupee in eighteenmonths of more than 30 percentaffecting imports and the currentaccount deficit, and with internation-al oil prices having risen by leaps andbounds, the import bill has alsoincreased as a consequence. In addi-tion, power shortages and the chroniclaw and order situation in Pakistanhave only made matters for economicdevelopment far worse. One mustalso mention the fact that in 2008-09,the Government of Pakistan went

back to the IMF to borrow around $7.6 billion. All loans from the IMFcome with often severe conditionsattached to them, and the insistenceto do away with subsidies on petrole-um products and on utilities, has beenone such condition enforced by theIMF which the Government ofPakistan has agreed to, adding a fur-ther burden on the poor and the com-mon man and woman.

In summary then, 2008-09 has been aparticularly bad year for the economy,and hence for Pakistani citizens andthere have been very few positive eco-nomic developments. Under this back-drop, the expectations from the

Government to address concerns facedby Pakistan's men and women, hadnever been this high. Sadly, the FederalBudget 2009-10 failed to address mostof these concerns.

The 2009-10 Budget and its Impact:

The Government of Pakistan in itsbudget announced that its agendaincluded the following: macroeconom-ic stability and real sector growth; pro-tecting the poor and the vulnerable;increasing productivity and value addi-tion in agriculture; making industryinternationally competitive; andincreasing and improving human sec-

tor development. The following targetsfor the economy have been set for thisfinancial year: a GDP growth target of3.3 percent; inflation to be broughtdown to 9.5 percent; the tax-to-GDPratio to rise to 9.6 percent, and the fis-cal deficit to be contained around 4.6percent of GDP.

In the budget speech that wasannounced in the National Assembly,the Minister of State announced, thatthe Public Sector DevelopmentProgramme (PSDP) would be allocat-ed Rs 646 bn, Rs 660 would go to debtservicing, Rs 175 bn would be admin-istrative expenses, and Defence wouldreceive Rs 343 bn, an increase of 10

percent from the revised estimates of2008-09. Other features of the budgetincluded the announcement, that ciga-rettes would cost more, that each SMSwould incur an excise duty of 20 paisa(since then taken back), a carbon taxwould replace the PetroleumDevelopment Levy and that domesticpetroleum prices would follow inter-national trends and be passed on (orreduced) as the global price of oilchanged. Moreover, other features ofthe budget included a tax for the IDPsin Pakistan and those earning anexcess of income of Rs 1 million,would pay a one-time tax which wouldgo towards the rehabilitation of IDPs.Other meausres in the budget includedRs 10 bn access credit guaranteed tothe SME sector, and a subsequentlyrevised 20 percent increase in thesalaries of government servants in thecivil and armed services as ad hocrelief. Some measures to meet theshorfall in the power supply sectorwere also announced.

If we were to highlight some of the keyissues that the economy faces at themoment, they would include the fol-lowing: revival of economic activities,particularly the industrial and exportsectors; increasing overall economicgrowth; lowering inflation; and, reliefand social safety nets for the poor andunderprivileged. Does the secondbudget of the PPP government suggestthat some of these measures can bemet?

It is clear that Pakistan faces numer-ous challenges at the moment, with therevival of the economy one of themost important of these. Sadly,Budget 2009-10 does not address mostof the concerns of the economy over-all, or of the citizens more generally. Itseems clear that even the 3.3 percentGDP target that is part of the govern-ment's revival plan, may not necessar-ily be met. Other areas of revival, inparticular the industrial sector, dependon cheap finance and uninterruptedpower supplies, both of which do notseem to be forthcoming at themoment. With subsidies on petroleumand power to be further removed, it isclear that industrialists will have topass on these costs to consumers andfor their exportable products. Thisdoes not bode well for industrialrevival and Pakistan's exportablegoods will continue to be uncompeti-tive in the global market. Inflation too,will probably not fall substantially, forthe removal of subsidies and the pro-jected price rise of international petro-leum prices will make the cost ofdoing business dearer. Under IMFconstraints, it seems that the stabilisa-tion programme of the governmentwill be extended by a further year atleast, and the prospects for economicrevival look slim.

� The author is an independentsocial scientist who specialises inpolitical economy and development.

Ignoring Substantive Issues: The Federal Budget 2009-10From Page 1

The Budget and Women:While it is clear that the economy is not soon going to move on a growth-ori-ented path, the expectations of citizens, particularly women, are also not likelyto be met. It is improbable that the government will achieve its target of single-digit inflation, which will continue to be a burden on women who managehousehold finances. Similarly, the economic revival strategy of the governmentdoes not seem effective enough to reduce unemployment and poverty, adding toissues which affect households. Moreover, if the growth rate of the economystays as low as it has, one can expect unemployment and poverty to grow. Often,the PSDP is a means which allows growth-oriented projects to take off and forbenefits to reach the poor and underprivileged. If the government does meet itsenhanced target of expenditure, one can hope to see some relief filter down tothe poor. However, past experience suggests that whenever an economic crisistakes hold, it is always development expenditure which is cut first. This seemsprobable this financial year as well.

The flagship social safety net of the government has been the Benazir IncomeSupport Programme (BISP), which has had its contribution in this year's budgetdoubled. The BISP is a cash transfer programme where deserving families areexpected to get cash handouts of Rs 1,000 per family per month. The experienceof safety nets in Pakistan, such as the zakat distribution programme, have beenfraught with numerous problems of design and implementation. Leakages andcorruption have been cited in such income support programmes and there is noreason to suggest that the BISP will not face similar challenges. It is still earlydays for the BISP and it is difficult to predict how the programme will progress,but fears do exist which suggest that implementation may suffer. Moreover, theargument has also been made that Rs 1,000 per family as charity is unlikely tohelp most women and other family members who are struggling in inflationarytimes like these, where the real value of the rupee, even of Rs 1,000, is depreci-ating on account of high and persistent inflation. The expectations from the BISP,as well as from other aspects of the government's economic strategy and theBudget 2009-10 seem to be very high, but nowhere likely to be met.

Sadly, there is very little that one can celebrate in the PPP government'sBudget for 2009-10 at a time of economic crisis and growing unemploymentand poverty. Citizens, and particularly women who bear multiple burdens,from managing and running the household to facing gender discrimination inthe public spaces that they occupy, will continue to face further economiccrises. The budget announced and approved by the democratically electedNational Assembly allows neither relief or recovery for the economy as awhole, nor for its citizens, whether men or women.

7

By Rehana Siddiqui

The Federal Budget for the year2009/10 was announced on June 13,2009. First time, in the history ofPakistan the budget speech was deliv-ered by a woman in the presence ofwomen speaker of the national assem-bly. This is a big achievement forwomen of Pakistan.

The budget of 2009/10 is presented at atime when the country is facing variousinternal and external challenges. In addi-tion, the implementation of stabilizationprogram and adverse socio-politicalconditions resulted in GDP growth rateof only 2.00 percent during last year.The global economic conditions, like thefinancial collapse, rising fuel and foodprices, also affected the economyadversely. Given the internal and exter-nal environment, the responsibility onthe current government is huge to meetthe challenges posed by the 'war on ter-ror' and issue of 'internally displacedpeople', rising food and fuel prices andpoverty and yet a target for a highergrowth rate of GDP than the last year.

Before discussing its relevance to gen-

der related issue it will be appropriate tomention the salient features of budget.The total budget for 2009/10 is for Rs.2.897 trillion. The size of the develop-ment budget is 32 percent of the totalbudget. The deficit of 4.9 percent isexpected to be met from externalsources (1.5 percent) and internalsources (3.4 percent), particularly addi-tional taxation. Since the borrowingfrom the State Bank of Pakistan is notan option, the additional taxation will bethe main source of revenue. Given thisscenario the economy is facing hugechallenges. The objective is to boost thecommodity producing sectors, viz.,agriculture and manufacturing.

The budget, except for income taxexemption and Benazir IncomeSupport Programme (BISP), is silenton gender related issue. It seems theinitiative of 'gender responsive budget-ing' is not practically implemented inthe budget-making process by theMinistry of Finance. Following issuescan be highlighted from the genderperspective:

The Budget-2009/10, despite the gen-der responsive budgeting claims of the

Ministry of Finance seems to gendersensitize the budgetary process is nottaken into account, and the efforts arenot focused to the sectors where thewomen/girls are expected to benefit.

The major incentive proposed in thebudget is extension of tax-exemptionlimit. The exemption limit is proposedto increase, for men, from Rs.180,000/- in 2008/09 to Rs. 200,000/-in the current budget. For the women itis increased from Rs. 240,000/-in2008/09 to 260,000/- in 2009/10.However, despite increase in the limit,the gap in the income tax-exemptionlimit and the parity of tax exemptionlimit, 1:1.33 between men and women,remained same in 2008/09 and2009/10.

The budget lacks the coverage of infor-mal activities where the women work-ers are concentrated. This will result inunequal benefit of rise in income tax-exemption limit to the workingwomen. It will not benefit the poorworking women because the genderdisparities in access to education andto labour market results in concentra-tion of women workers in the low pay-

ing informal jobs.

The most important aspect of the budg-et is BISP. The focus of the programmeis on the poor women. The immediateimpact was significant increase in thewomen applicants for the nationalidentity card (NIC). The reason is thatin BISP the recipients will be womenand in order to qualify for receiving atransfer payment of Rs. 1000/- permonth a card will be issued to the eli-gible women. The NIC is a necessarycondition for getting the card. Theamount allocated is Rs. 70 billion andwomen in about five million familiesare expected to benefit from the pro-gramme. In addition to BISP, theemployment guarantee program isexpected to result in sustainable reduc-tion in poverty, however, the focus ofthe employment guarantee pro-gramme is not on women, it is genderneutral.

In general, we can say that the budgetis gender blind.

� The author is �Chief of Research�with Pakistan Institute of DevelopmentEconomics (PIDE).

�The gender-blind budget�

Realizing that there is a need to ana-lyze the Annual Budget 2009-10 andlater track it in its implementationphase in a coordinated and concertedmanner, three civil society organiza-tions, namely ActionAid Pakistan,Centre for Peace and DevelopmentInitiatives (CPDI) and RuralDevelopment Policy Institute (RDPI)jointly analysed the budget documentsand issued a preliminary statement onJune 15 2009. The statement was laterendorsed by the civil society organiza-tions and networks in Islamabad,inluding Aurat Foundation.

Some of the major issues and concernsrelated to social sector developmentand process of budget-making are re-produced below::

Social Sector Expenditures:

The social sector expenditures remainthe lowest in the current budget; andfall drastically short of meeting eventhe very basic needs of the people. Thebudget fails to show any meaningfulshift in terms of priorities, as the mainexpenditure lines continue to includedebt servicing and defence. Althoughthe allocations for public sector devel-opment program have been increased,it may be noticed that their total size isless than the resources that are expect-ed to be raised through domestic andforeign loans.

It is encouraging that government hasincreased allocations for certain pro-grams meant for social protection. Onesuch example is that of BenazirIncome Support Program, which has

been allocated an amount of RS 70 bil-lions. However, such allocations needto be more efficiently utilized in orderto create and sustain livelihood oppor-tunities as well as to improve access tohealth and educational services.Furthermore, there is a need to have acomprehensive social protection poli-cy and a well structured mechanism toaddress the issue of poverty and foodsecurity of around 84 million people.

The current budget for the Ministry ofEducation has been increased from RS19.1 billion in 2008-09 to RS 25.2 bil-lion in 2009-10, which shows anincrease of 32 percent. On the otherhand, the development budget of theEducation Division has increased fromRS 6.3 billion in 2008-09 to RS 8.1 bil-lion in 2009-10, meaning an increaseof 28.6 percent. While these increasesare encouraging, these are still not ade-quate in the face of extremely badshape of our existing public sector edu-cation system.

In the development budget for educa-tion, RS 1464 million have been allo-cated for building 24 cadet collegesacross the country. On the other hand,allocation for programs like AdultLiteracy (under ESR) has beenreduced by 98 percent. This is scan-dalous to say the least, as the cadetcolleges cater to the needs of middleand upper middle sections of society,who can afford to send their childrento private schools as well. The publicfunds must be utilized efficiently andwith a focus on education for all; andnot to serve the elite and affluent seg-ments of society.

The approval of Bt. Cotton in Pakistanwith the help of Monsanto will jeop-ardize not only the cotton sector but allassociated sectors like textile.Researches from ActionAid andNational Agriculture Research Centreunderscore that Bt cotton cultivationhas devastated thousands of hectaresresulting huge losses to poor farmers.Therefore, the decision should bereverted back and a broader consulta-tion with farmers group and NGOsshould be started on this issue.

It is encouraging that the governmenthas announced to create social securityprotection program for harais.However, the scope of this programneeds to be broadened to cover otheragricultural labourers includingmuzaras and sharecroppers across thecountry.

Salaries and Wages:

The annual budget includes noannouncement for increase in the min-imum wage of workers, which hadbeen fixed at RS 6000 per month.Given the high rate of inflation in thecountry, this omission is a matter ofserious concern, as it would adverselyaffect a highly vulnerable section ofthe society. It is also a deplorable factthat even the minimum wage of RS6000 is not being paid to a large num-ber of workers in many public and pri-vate organizations as well as in theinformal sector.

Transparency in Budget:

The annual budget is prepared in a

completely non-transparent and non-participatory manner, as the relevantstakeholders are not consulted in theprocess of defining priorities, assess-ing needs, making current allocationsor identifying new development proj-ects. This concern should beaddressed, as without the participationof real stakeholders, the budget wouldcontinue to serve the interests of pow-erful groups, as opposed to the generalpublic.

The budget approval process shouldstart in March each year when parlia-mentary committees should be allowedand empowered to analyse draft budg-et documents of respective ministriesand finalize recommendations afterpublic hearings involving independentexperts, stakeholders and civil society.

The process of budget implementationshould also be made completely trans-parent especially with regard to anyrevisions, re-appropriations, cuts,releases and utilization. In the existingsituation, the allocated budgets ofsocial sector are generally reducedafter the parliamentary approval; andeven smaller amounts are actually uti-lized. It is urged that government mustput all the relevant information onwebsite in order to ensure maximumtransparency in budget utilization.

It is further demanded that the govern-ment must introduce the system of par-ticipatory budgeting involving peoplefrom local levels in the process ofpreparing local, provincial and nation-al budgets, as it is being practiced inBrazil.

Civil society perspective on Federal Budget

8

In order to discuss the obstacles facedby women in getting registered as vot-ers and obtaining CNICs, AuratFoundation convened a meeting ofNational Caucus of WomenParliamentarians on April 16, 2009 atIslamabad. Speaker of the NationalAssembly Dr Fahmida Mirza chairedthe meeting which was participated by83 (out of its total membership of 90)MNA's and Senators. The ElectionCommission of Pakistan (ECP) andNational Database RegulatoryAuthority (NADRA) were also invitedto present their point of view.

Aurat Foundation�s representativesShireen Aijaz and Mazhar Lagharielaborated in detail the obstacles inrealizing women's right to vote andobtaining the CNICs, and identifiedseveral administrative and proceduralproblems in making the Electoral Rollserror-free. The corporate Managers ofNADRA came up with elusive

responses when they were grilled fornot being able to issue all women citi-zens the CNICs free of costs as pertheir pre-elections promise. The parlia-mentarians criticized ECP for failing tocome up with an accurate electoral list.The concern was expressed that ECPand NADRA had diluted the integrity

of computerized list by simply adding26 million names without enteringtheir CNICs numbers while complyingwith the Supreme Court directives.The Chair directed that ECP andNADRA should come up with theanswers to various queries as put bythe participants.

Women Parliamentarians Caucus for mobilizing women voters

Islamabad: Parliamentarians in their Caucus meeting

Almost 76% of the women workers inPakistan are employed in the informalsector. Their work is insecure, irregularand often unrecognized. They have tobalance between child raring, homecaring and kitchen, and their work, andmore often their income does not com-mensurate with their work. Most of thetimes, they are relegated to subordinateroles. In order to discuss the plight ofthese women workers with the womenp ar l i a m e n t a r i a n s ,Aurat Foundation helda one day advocacyworkshop on the'Implementation ofNational Policy ofHomeBased Workers'on 21 May 2009 atLahore. The work-shop participants dis-cussed that home-based women workerssuffer most of theimpact of globaliza-

tion because competition among bigcorporations causes unemployment andcasualization of women labour. Womenworkers face worse working conditionsincluding extremely low wage, longworking hours and labour accidents.They are treated like sub-humans with-out even minimum labour rights writ-ten in the ILO conventions. Women asa category of workers, therefore, needspecial focus and analysis.

The plight of homebased women workers

Lahore: One day Advocacy workshop with women parlia-mentarians on "Implementation of national policy forHomeBased workers" held on Thursday 21 May 2009.

Legislative Watch Programme ofAurat Foundation Karachi organizedInaugural Ceremony of Five-YearReport on "Performance of WomenParliamentarians in the 12thNational Assembly" on 15 April2009 at hotel Regent Plaza Karachi.People from different walks of lifei.e. parliamentarians, lawyers,NGOs activists, women activists,including media persons participat-ed in the ceremony.

The event was marked with the partic-ipation of Ms Sharmilla Farooqi,Advisor to the Chief Minister, Sindh,as Chief Guest while three formerwomen legislators of NationalAssembly, Ms Kaniz Ayesha Munawar(MMA), Ms Nafisa Munawer Raja(PPPP) and Ms Shabina Talat (MQM)spoke as guest speakers.

Performance ofWomen MNAs:book-launching

ceremony

Islamabad: Aurat Foundation along with other civil society activists held a protestdemonstration against 'talibanization', in front of Parliament House on 7 April 2009.

Karachi: Aurat Foundation�s Director Programmes, Naeem Mirza, presenting thereport to the Chief Guest Ms Sharmilla Farooqi, Advisor to the Chief Minister, Sindh.

Aurat Foundation, Peshawar office,worked with IDPs in Kacha Ghari 1Camp in Peshawar, under its �GenderProtection Project in IDPs camps� ofNWFP. The main target of the projectwere women and girls living in the

camps. Aurat conducted a survey toassess the needs of women. For thepurpose, 300 women IDPs were con-tacted to fill in the detailed surveyforms.

Aurat arranged tailoring and embroi-dery workshop for 60 women and pro-

vided 'life skills' training to 110 younggirls and women. As the displacedwomen were under stress and trauma, apsychologist was hired to conduct psy-chosocial session for 85 women and 2girls. Two Focus Group Discussionswere arranged with the IDPs men andwomen to discuss their problems andtheir immediate needs. A meeting wasalso arranged with camp administrationand other organizations to improve thecoordination among the administrationand NGOs working there for IDPs.Aurat also distributed 'women kits' to126 women.

Aurat Foundation also provided toysand books to 'child friendly spaces' cre-ated by two partner organizations, YouthResource Centre (YRC) and PakistanVillage Development Programme(PVDP). Through its Citizen ActionCommittees (CACs) children were pro-vided �energy drinks� in Swabi campwhile IDPs from Malakand were pro-vided with medicines.

Aurat with IDPs: Creating Friendly Spaces