Daily Times

The international campaign of sixteen days of activism against gender based violence kicked off on 25 th November with the theme orange the world ,Fund ,respond and Collect .The campaign aims at raising awareness among nations over the violation of human rights and that too of the women .In Pakistan in also started off with the National Assembly and Presidency turning into orange .We also came across s the news of harsh penalties for the rapists and child abusers .The question the challenge still remains the same and that is the conviction of the criminals in such heinous crimes if they are identified and captured .The news may be carrying importance for the female population in settled areas as if we look at the users of social media it’s a huge group tweeting sharing the posts .Lets have a look on the other side of the picture away from internet twitter Face book where the whole world is just the house .I am referring to the newly merged tribal districts. No doubt the 25 th constitutional amendment talks about equal citizenry, access to fundamental rights but the ground realities are quite different if one ever gets a chance to visit the female community Let’s give a drop to this woman to the main road as the road is far off broken and this women is with three children carrying one in her lap the second one hardly two years and the eldest boy may be ten years old. Along way to walk on a bumpy, dusty road were no means of communication available, or maybe there were but beyond her economic access. It was on our way back to Peshawar from the newly merged district Khyber Tehsil Bara. The silent barren and dusty roads, children clad in poverty , bare footed gazing at our vehicle with a great surprise as if we were aliens .The fund-raising displays for mosques could be seen at various places naming the mosques as Masjid Bilala, Masjid Umer, Masjid Usman and Masjid Abubakar . A Madarasa had also initiated the fundraising following these mosques. The wall chalking was mostly about a religious gathering to be held in Swabi in October. One wall with a picture of two boys going to school and with the caption “Meyra Bhai School Jaye ga “, (My brother will go to school) “Baji we have to bear more children otherwise our husband goes for second and third marriage to have more children .Our best role is to bring more male children, serve the husband and that’s it’.

Let’s hope that the tribal women get the benefits issuance of sehat sahulat card as the real question is awareness on ground beyond advertisements on twitter and face book

I kept reflecting back on the events ,seminars ,gatherings arranged mostly in big posh hotels ,in various department on constitutional equality for all genders , human rights ,women empowerment statements and speeches ,feminism and of course the sixteen days of activism ,What equality and gender equality? The number of commissions, ministries women empowerment departments, civil society organizations, help lines claiming to be there for the provision of constitutional equality and protection of women rights. Tribal districts have been the unprivileged and in dark ages for decades and the merger under 25 th constitutional amendment was in fact a step to include this area for access to fundamental rights .The equal citizenry access to rights of education health and prosperous life is still a dream that may take decades to get materialized. The social fabric the patriarchal society under rigid cultural norms and values plus the wave of terrorism in these areas has infact still kept them as the inhabitants of Stone Age and the women particularly.

According to 2017-18 data by Elementary and secondary education ,tribal areas 5890 schools educational institutions out of which 1195 are damaged 58 percent children out of school adding up to our ranking as number 2 with out of school children .677157 students are enrolled with s student teacher ratio of 1/ 59.The lack of access to education and educational institutions in a rough terrain leads to one solution to the parents .The girl gets married at an early age to run the affairs of a new house hold .The early marriages are strongly encouraged culturally as a younger wife will be more productive to increase the man strength ,which is taken as a matter of pride and strength too .The inter-tribe disputes on land honour water. Ultimately the right to health of the mother is badly violated .Let’s hope that the tribal women get the benefits issuance of sehat sahulat card as the real question is awareness on ground beyond advertisements on twitter and face book. Lack of education on part of the elders and adults dealing girls as commodity ,a machine to bring children yearly to add up to the man force for the disputes fights over land water and many petty issues. The low rate of girls enrollment unavailability of the teachers, residential and travelling facilities for female staff, and hiring of staff on vacant seats. The infrastructures leading to schools need desperate attention secure and comfortable roads will encourage parents to send them to school ???

A recent play on Hum TV takes the lead in depicting a lower class mother and daughter with their own affairs separately and conspiracies for wealth. The girls getting into affairs, broken marriages and remarriages in the same families. Someone once commented that the writers are mostly entangled in the mythical stories more like those characters of Mha bharat or Greek myths where woman is at the epicenter for devilish activities. A kind of slow poisoning is on in the name of entertainment far away from the ground realties .The female parliamentarians from settled areas as well as tribal districts really need to highlight the deprivations of the women where ever possible as the women are human beings living the lives in the worst living conditions. The Social welfare department, Education Department and all the govt departments need to move ahead with a revolutionary approach that needs to be beyond the dusty penaflex displays .The health department is going good with Sehat Insaaf Card ,something additional needed to address the health issues of women and support for them I think at the post merger scenario , engage the women from community with the support of genuine civil society organizations. The provincial Commission on status of women and the various women empowerment departments must come up with concrete research data collection and extended support for the women in the newly merged areas. The real patriarchy needs to be witnessed in these areas before any legislation for women as a law is only a law when it can be accessed equally by all and equally implemented too .last but not the least media needs to wake up ,It can do the impossible for these real marginalized women if being used well .