‘South Asia one of the worst places to be a woman’

Speakers highlight several issues at ceremony held to welcome Nepalese peace delegation

KARACHI: South Asia is one of the worst places to be a woman as in the region, they face several problems that need to be addressed on priority, said Farhat Parveen of the National Organisation for Working Communities on Sunday, addressing a ceremony at the Karachi Press Club to welcome a six-member peace delegation from Nepal.

The delegation is visiting Pakistan to partake in global peace march titled 'Jai Jagat 2020 '- a five-year programme engaging individuals from multiple countries and focused on organising international events covering deepening economic, social and environmental crises, eradicating poverty, eliminating social exclusion and ending violence. The march will culminate in Geneva in March this year.

Speaking at the ceremony, Jagat Bahadur Basnet, a member of the delegation, said that most of the delegates were proponents of the land rights movement in their home country. "Peasants in Nepal are facing poverty due to lack of resources and opportunities," he pointed out.

Dr Riaz Ahmed Shaikh, who heads the social sciences faculty at the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology, shed light on problems being faced by people who were unable to travel to India from Pakistan for medical treatment.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Institute of Labour, Education and Research executive director Karamat Ali underlined the need for the revival of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), saying that the summit was last held in 2014. Following that, another SAARC summit was to be held in 2016 in Islamabad but it could not take place, he added.

Later, Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum secretary general Saeed Baloch called attention to the problems faced by Pakistani and Indian fishermen, who were often arrested while their launches were confiscated.

Imran Sherwani, a journalist, stressed the need for media in South Asian countries to collaborate and work together.

Former Karachi Metropolitan Corporation administrator Faheemuz Zaman Khan, Citizens-Police Liaison Committee former chief Nazim F Haji, Zahid Farooq of Urban Resource Centre, trade union leaders Habibuddin Junaidi, Qazi Khizar, Nasir Mansoor and Shujauddin, and members of the Nepalese delegation, including Basnet, Geeta Pandit, Bhawani Ghimire, Jagat Bahadur Deuja, Lyam Bahadur Darjee and Somparsad Bhandari, also attended the ceremony.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17^th, 2020.