In her exclusive interview with Arti Bali she talked about the Mid-east uprisings and her remark proved prophetic since there were loud protest near Wall Street on 18th September against US existing financial crisis.
Q How this conference will be able to tackle the to Violence against Women and Girls?
The three day seminar was inaugurated by Speaker of Lok Sabha (Lower House of Indian Parliament) Meira Kumar.Around 150 participants, including parliamentarians and observers from Iran, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand participated in the seminar. The seminar was organized jointly by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Parliament of India.President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Theo-Ben Gurirab also attended the Seminar. To achieve the aim of this conference it is essential to enact legislation and develop policies that address discrimination against women and promote gender equality and help move the culture away from violence against women.
While in other conferences the stress is on victims, the main emphasis in this conference is to address the root causes for violence, seek short term solutions to respond to the immediate crisis and treat the symptoms or outcomes of violence. In addition to the provisions of the Constitutions and laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran, other legislation has been passed to combat and penalize violence against women.
It also includes the occupation of countries by superpowers now as a cause of violent attitude by foreign forces in Bahrain, Afghanistan , and Iraq. How can we say that this violence will not affect the lives of people in Bahrain.
Q How do you see the Asian countries affected by US and European economic crisis?
Ans US and European countries are gripped with severe economic difficulties because they failed due to their wrong policies of war and sending their armies to other countries. Certainly the countries whose economies are dependent on US and Europe will also be affected. But countries like Islamic republic of Iran whose economy is not dependent on superpowers will not be affected by this crisis.At this point of time Iran has progressed in the field of economy. Whereas US and its European allies who tried to cripple our economy by imposing sanctions ,contrary to that,see their own economies shattered .
Q The suffering of Palestinian women is also being discussed in this seminar?
Ans Certainly, out of eight sessions ,6th and 7th sessions give a strong warning against occupation. Israel is the foremost occupier and is illegally occupying territories . We see all disturbance in this region linked to terrorism and spying by Israel. Even the murder of our nuclear scientist was done by Israeli terrorists that are being trained in the area occupied by Israel .We see footprints of Israel in Iraq as well. The support of US to the illegal regime of Israel is the cause of disturbance in the region.
Q Will this conference boast Indo-Iran relations?
Ans Certainly, this conference will boost historical relations between India and Iran . Especially so, since Iran is one of the founder of Asian Parliamentary Union and we welcome this important session being held in India . During separate meeting with Speaker Meira Kumar , we stressed the strengthening of bilateral relations between both the countries and have also invited her to visit Iran to participate in the conference going to be held in October in Tehran . We believe that the presence of regional countries in this conference will increase the power of this region.
We are already having great cooperation in cultural economic activities and likewise cooperation in security for dealing with terrorism.
Q Is there any likelihood of a women becoming a president of Iran ?
There is no reservation or specified percentage for women representation in the Majlis (Irainan Parliament) but at the same time there is no restriction and any number of women can become members of the Majlis . Currently there are four women in then cabinet and two of them occupy very important positions . One is deputy minister for science and technology and other is legal adviser to president Ahmadinejad.
Q How do you view the middle east uprisings.
We should see the reason why these uprisings are taking place . We consider these uprisings as Islamic awakening and these popular uprisings are a replay of 1979 Islamic Revolution, which toppled the pro-U.S. shah .People have come to understand that superpowers interfere in other countries for their own interest . The condition of women in Bahrain is really worrisome. We hope that uprisings in Bahrain , Yemen , Egypt, Tunisia will be successful . One Bahrain women writer writes against rulers and she has been arrested and tortured many times.
We are concerned that foreign powers will repeat the same behaviour in Bahrain as they did with women in Iraq .
We should see the reason why these uprisings are taking place . We consider these uprisings as Islamic awakening and these popular uprisings are a replay of 1979 Islamic Revolution, which toppled the pro-U.S. shah .People have come to understand that superpowers interfere in other countries for their own interest . The condition of women in Bahrain is really worrisome. We hope that uprisings in Bahrain , Yemen , Egypt, Tunisia will be successful . One Bahrain women writer writes against rulers and she has been arrested and tortured many times.
We are concerned that foreign powers will repeat the same behaviour in Bahrain as they did with women in Iraq .
No comments:
Post a Comment