AMBASSADOR TAHIR-KHELI'S ISLAMABAD VISIT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ISLAMABAD 001687

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SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR TAHIR-KHELI'S ISLAMABAD VISIT



1. (SBU) Summary. Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State
for Women's Empowerment Ambassador Shirin Tahir-Kheli met
with a wide spectrum of government officials, civil society,
and media -- and garnered significant media coverage --
during her March 14-19 visit to Islamabad. Her interlocutors
presented a range of opinions on the state of women's
empowerment in Pakistan, the government's recent passage of
the "Women's Protection Bill", and what else needs to be
done. End summary.

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An Array of Interlocutors
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2. (SBU) During her five-day tour d'horizon of women's
empowerment issues in Islamabad, Ambassador Tahir-Kheli's
packed schedule included meetings with:

-- President Pervez Musharraf
-- Mrs. Sebha Musharraf
-- Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz
-- Senate Chairman Mohammedmian Somroo and two women Senators
-- Minister of Women's and Youth Affairs Sumaira Malik and
her staff
-- Foreign Secretary Riaz Khan
-- Mutahidda Majlis-e Amal's senior women parliamentarians
Samia Raheel Qazi, Balqis Saif, and Kaiser Firdous
-- Secular opposition parliamentarians: Tehmina Daultana
(PML-N),Fauzia Wahab (PPP),Rukhsana Zuberi (PPP),and
Barrister Sadia Abbasi (PML-N)
-- More than 60 civil society leaders (NGOs who assist women,
women's rights activists, and media)
-- The students and faculty of Fatima Jinnah Women's
University (where Ambassador Tahir-Kheli gave a talk)
-- Students, parents, and community leaders of two schools
run by U.S.-based NGO Development in Literacy

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GOP Bullish On Pakistan's Progress in Women's Empowerment
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3. (SBU) Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Minister of Women's
and Youth Affairs Sumaira Malik gave Ambassador Tahir-Kheli
optimistic readouts on the government's "significant
progress" on the issue of women's empowerment, saying that
the government had made women's empowerment a major priority.
Beginning with a quote from the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad
Ali Jinnah, who said "if women are not given a place
side-by-side with men, there will be no progress" both Aziz
and Malik -- in separate meetings -- proudly touted
Pakistan's recent achievements:

-- One of the highest numbers of women participating in the
political process (33% in the provincial and national
assemblies, 33% in local government),Malik suggested that
Pakistan could be a role model to Afghan women in this area;

-- A recent doubling of the quota for women in government
jobs to 10% from the current 5%;

-- Graduating the first batch of women Air Force Officers;

-- Graduating the first batch of women Army officers;

-- Amending laws to allow women to have flexibility to work
in the evening; and

-- Passing a progressive "Women's Protection Bill."

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4. (SBU) Describing the Women's Protection Bill as the "first
time Pakistani women feel a sense of protection and that the
government is doing something for them," Malik said getting
the bill passed was a difficult task. She described this
process as a balancing act between placating liberal elements
who said the bill didn't go far enough and Islamist elements
who said the bill was un-Islamic. When asked about
implementation of the bill and how the Government of Pakistan
had planned to advertise to women that the law had been
passed, Malik and Prime Minister Aziz both said they had gone
on speaking tours to inform Pakistani women of their rights,
and that they would launch a public relations campaign using
television, radio and other media sources. Malik also said
the government had started a training module at the "Women's
Political School" -- a training program for female local
government leaders -- with the hope that councilors who
understood the new law and their legal rights would then
spread the word to their constituents. Once women know about
the law, the next challenge will be implementing the bill,
because it requires changing procedures, getting forensic
evidence properly collected and admitted, and changing
mindsets of judges and families.

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Civil Society's Pragmatic Concerns
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5. (SBU) In discussions with a range of civil society
personalities -- from women who run crisis shelters and
vocational training programs to female lawyers, journalists,
and human rights activists -- women acknowledged the
increasing role of women in Pakistani society, particularly
in the realm of political participation, but also expressed
sincere concerns about the state of women in Pakistan. Many
were concerned by what they see as an increase in crimes
against women, which often feature prominently in national
newspapers. When asked about legal protections for women,
most said they were glad the government had passed last
year's domestic violence bill and this year's women's
protection bill, but were concerned that they were not being
implemented. As Shehnaz Bokhari, who runs a crisis center
for the victims of domestic violence, put it, "these bills
are a good start, but the institutions needed to carry a case
through to justice don't work." Others told Ambassador
Tahir-Kheli that one element of the new "Women's Protection
Bill" -- which changes the procedures for how a rape victim
would file a case, moving it from her local police station to
the regional courthouse -- will actually make it more
difficult for a woman to get justice because courthouses are
located further away than local police stations. (Note: The
government argues that it changed procedures to mitigate
routine complaints that police officers further abuse rape
victims at the police station and take bribes from the
perpetrator not to file the report. They argue that shifting
cases to regional courthouses improves the process and adds a
layer of accountability, because more senior, better educated
personnel will handle the cases. End note).

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View from the MMA: Some Common Ground
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6. (SBU) Three senior leaders of key Islamist political party
Jamaat-i Islami's (JI) Women's Wing -- Samia Raheel Qazi (JI
leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed's daughter and leader of the JI
Women's Wing),Balqis Saif (a teacher from Balochistan),and
Kaiser Firdous (a former Pakistani Air Force Medical Corps

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officer) -- discussed the Islamist coalition's perspective on
women's empowerment in Pakistan. Qazi, the most outspoken of
the three, began the meeting by emphasizing that Pakistan's
Islamist parties are "very focused on the problems of
women...we're not against things that help women." She went
on to explain that Pakistan's Islamist coalition, the
Mutahidda Majlis-e Ammal (MMA),which includes JI, does not
support the government's efforts because it is "focusing on
the wrong issues...we want to tackle the correct issues." In
the MMA's eyes, the Women's Protection bill is unislamic
because it sought to tone down the hudood ordinances; Qazi,
Saif, and Firdous said the bill they wanted to see was one
that helps women get access to justice. MMA members also
pointed to an alleged recent increase in violence against
women, which they claimed was evidence that the bill had
taken things in the wrong direction. Qazi said that she had
written her own bill -- one that would have helped women in
prisons get legal and medical aid, trained police and judges
to handle hudood cases, and trained people to handle forensic
evidence -- but lamented that the government had only taken
the title, "the Women's Protection Bill." They also said
that the government needed to tackle what they believe are
the "real" concerns for women in Pakistan: clean drinking
water, safe and good education for girls in Pakistan, and
health care (especially reproductive health, HIV/AIDS,
hepatitis, kidney disorders, diabetes, TB, and malaria).
(Comment: These three very articulate, well-educated women
dispel the pervasive belief that the religious coalition they
belong to is "unenlightened," "anti-women", and
retrogressive. The concerns they raised about the Women's
Protection Bill and access to justice for women echo those
from the most liberal women's activists and demonstrates that
there may be room for dialogue and joint action between women
across the divides of religion and ideology. End comment.)


7. (U) This cable has been cleared by Ambassador Shirin
Tahir-Kheli.

BODDE