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by Ilika Karunaratne

In town recently, but all too briefly, for a meeting of the Inter Parliamentary Union, were, Roshan Bharucha and Rubina Wattoo, two distinguished lady politicians, from Pakistan. The former, a Senator, and the latter, a member of The National Assembly. Their only similarity were the first letters of their first name. They were complete opposite in style and personality, but each in their own way, projected commitment to the cause of women, children, progress and development.

Roshan, the more mature and experienced of the two, is a most dynamic personality, self-confident and articulate, and is now in the Senate. She is from Balochistan, Quetta, and has had considerable experience in diverse and varied fields, before going into politics. "Teaching was my first role in life, which I enjoyed tremendously because of my love for children. It was most rewarding, I was a Montessori trained teacher, and taught English too, in several schools in the country for 12 years.

Then I felt it was time for a change, to explore new horizons, and joined ILO in Quetta, where my work was mainly among Afghan refugees. I then changed jobs again, this time joining GTT, which was a German project. I was Project Manager and in charge of Finance and Administration. What attracted me to this was that they were interested in beginning an institute for Technical Training, which I felt was a dire need, to divert minds of young people into self-employment. That to me, was a stepping stone into politics.

I was made a Minister and had nine portfolios; Womens Affairs, Social Welfare, Sports, Population, Youth affairs, Information Technology, Information and the Media, were among them." I wondered how one person could possibly cope with so much? "Being an educationist, I was able to interrelate to them all and accommodate them under one umbrella. As media was under my purview too, I was able to project public awareness through that. I am now a Senator, and my main interests are human development and primary education. I am Chairperson of SOS too, which is my scene because of my lifelong involvement with children.

I have done a lot of work with women prisoners, and getting lawyers, to help them on a voluntary basis. One of my main avenues of interest has been the problem of drug addicts, and I was able to do something about this while I was a Minister. My dream, is to establish an university for IT education. I have also worked with women in different districts, in cottage industries, through micro credit. Talent and creativity, we have in abundance, but finance is usually a problem, and I felt they needed guidance with guidelines for marketing." In conversation, Roshan told us abut an area, through which, she passed daily, while she was working on the German project. "I noted that there were many people, but a lack of water facilities and good roads in the area. So, one of the first things, I did as Minister, was to go back there, and do something about it.

They were so happy and appreciative, that I had remembered them and their lack of proper facilities. When they finally got the water and the road, they wanted to call the road after me, and added a 'devi' too, to my name. But I refused this honour, as I felt it was my duty to help them and needed no reward for merely doing my duty." Roshan, incidentally, is a Parsee, and was thrilled to find that we had a Parsee Minister of Finance. She had also heard about Aban Pestonjee, one of our most successful women entrepreneurs, also a Parsee.

Two of Roshan's daughters are married, and the other is in the US, so she has plenty of time for both politics and social work. Her husband also devotes a lot of time to social work.

Rubina Wattoo, is very young, incredibly beautiful with a flawless complexion and is softspoken. She comes from a political family. Her father, was a politician, and was Speaker of the Punjab Assembly. He was also Chief Minister of Punjab, which is the biggest province in Pakistan, for three years. Although Rubina has three brothers, it was she who decided, probably with her father's blessings, to don his political mantle.

"By the Grace of God, I got 71,000 votes, which was the largest vote got by any woman candidate at the last elections. The rural area I represent, has many problems, including unemployment and bad health facilities. Although we have 11 degree colleges and many schools it is a matter for regret that many parents do not want to send their children to school, as they prefer to send them to work, where they earn money.

This is my greatest concern as I genuinely feel, that it is every child's right to be educated, and this must be the priority. I am working hard on this and trying my best to get the necessary legislation enacted against child labour." Rubina's husband has a textile factory, and she has four young children, two sons and two daughters. I felt it was very brave of her to go into politics, with young children, and very unselfish too, to fight for the rights of underprivileged children.

"Fortunately, I have strong and steady support from my family, which enables me to do my work, fight for the causes I believe in, and gives me peace of mind, in which to do so."

Two entire opposites in personality, devoted to one cause. Rubina has dark eyes full of soul, is tall and slender, and is quiet. But one can sense more in her than meets the eye, in her pretty benign exterior, and well practised constraint. She would, I feel be a citadel of safety and protection, for the children of her land.

Roshan, on other hand, is energetic, enthusiastic and gregarious; has vitality, and is a vibrant woman, full of optimism. I would like to have her on my side, and would hate to pit my wits against her, in any situation. She is undoubtedly, one of the sharpest people I have ever met; is lethally intelligent, and is the type, who would never make a judgement based on an emotional whim.

They are both astute politicians, practised tacticians, and women who are alert to the mistakes of history, and the future consequences of folly. It was a privilege to meet them both, and gave me tremendous pride to know, that our region has produced women of this calibre.

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