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'Both parties should stick to
what they say and decide'

Saagar J in Calcutta

Women groups from India and Pakistan have joined hands for a stronger bond, following euphoria over a proposed meeting between the heads of India and Pakistan in June or July.

The groups were led by Prof Nighat Said Khan, core faculty and dean of the Institute of Women's Studies, Lahore and by Malini Bhattacharya, member of Parliament and professor, women studies, Jadavpur university, Calcutta.

The groups, they said, were already way ahead of their political counterparts in creating a better world for their ilk in the sub-continent.

Khan was in Calcutta for a seminar under the aegis of the Pakistan and India Forum for Peace and Democracy

Initially reluctant to speak on General Pervez Musharraf's visit to India, Khan expressed hope, but added sceptically, "Both parties should stick to what they say and decide."

Perhaps taking a cue from her, Bhattacharya only added, "No comments."

Khan and Bhattacharya impressed upon the gathering facts and figures regarding various issues relating to the development of women in the past few years.

Khan said that in Pakistan and India, women needed to be more aware of their surroundings, to keep abreast with the world.

She, however, insisted that women today were far more courageous. They are now fighting for causes, though a long distance remains to be covered, she added.

Denying that the women's movement concept was imported from the west, Nighat pointed out, "Movements of the sub-continent are very indigenous, located in our realities and we pick up our own issues."

She explained that women, unlike elsewhere in the world, were primarily fighting religion, which is "patriarchal in its forms".

Women have been fighting for education, for planning of families, and above all for freedom of self-expression, ''yet, much needs to be achieved'', she said.

She pointed out that ignorance had led to the loss of essence of Women's Day.

''It is not a day to celebrate womanhood, and it is not declared by the United Nations. It is actually meant as a day of strike, for the women of Chicago, called by Clara Zetkin,'' she explained.

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