Yesterday, the political rivals were in contest on the issue of detailed judgement of Supreme Court on National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) and also on the role of the President but today they were in total agreement on the bill to protect the women against harassment at workplace.
This parliament, despite all the weaknesses, deserves the credit for taking unanimous stance on a number of issues. This was possible largely because of the positive role played by the opposition in the Parliament. The opposition forced the government to retreat on the issue of NRO but given full support to the government whether it was Swat operation, law and order or National Finance Commission (NFC) award. The role of the opposition was overwhelmingly positive in the House on Thursday, when the bill for the protection against harassment of women at workplace was moved by the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan.
The treasury did not oppose the amendments proposed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Q legislator Attiya Anayatullah in the legislation. One can hope that the parliamentarians would also show the same spirit and unanimity to solve the problems of the people.
Most of the treasury and opposition members were absent from the House when the legislation was moved and those who were present congratulated each others on the passage of the bill. Architect of the bill Sherry Rehman disclosed that some lobbies strongly opposed the legislation are also taking credit. Her remarks that law Minister has also supported the legislation eventually might have been revealing about the opponents of the bill.
The overt opposition to the bill was expressed by Maulana Asmatullah through a walkout from the House, however, Maulana Noor Ul Haq Qadri challenged his claim that the legislation was not in conformity with the Holy Quran or would establish superiority of the women over men. Some parliamentarians were of the view that merely legislation was not enough to protect the women rights, the real challenge would be the implementation of the law.
They were told by the speaker that responsibility of the Parliament was to legislate while the parliamentarians' obligation is to create awareness among the masses and sensitise them as well as compel the government to implement it.
The bill, as said by the Parliamentarians, if implemented in letter and spirit would ensure the participation of the women in the development of the country at all levels. The legislation is in line with the government's commitment to international labour laws and empowerment of women as well as to the global Human Rights Declaration, the United Nation's Convention for Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women and ILO's convention 100, and 111 on workers' rights.
The bill was prepared after extensive consultations with all the stakeholders and the input of all the political parties was incorporated during deliberation in the relevant Standing Committee of the Parliament. The bill would now be referred to the Senate and would become law after the approval of the upper House.
Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan speaking after the passage of bill said that the bill passed by the House was continuation of the efforts made by the former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto for the rights of women. This, he said was the second landmark legislation by the on-going session after the Public defender bill to protect the rights of the common man.
The claim by the Minster that there was no danger to the Parliament was really surprising and one wonders why he was making such statement if everything is going well. We can recall a similar statement of one of the former Prime Minister claiming that he was not going to resign but the next day the biggest news in the country was that he has resigned. The humble advice one could give to the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs may be that such statements by the treasury deepens the doubts instead of damage control.