Forum Pakistan

Democratic Women's Association of Pakistan (also Anjuman-iJumhuriat pasand Khawatin, AJK)
The Association was set up in 1950. Between 1953 and 1963 it was banned. Its headquarters are in Lahore and it has branches throughout the country. The organization was set up by Tahira Mazhar Ali, a prominent public figure. It is administered by its executive committee. Until 1977 the AJK regularly convened its congresses. In the early 1970s the Association actively promoted women's constitutional rights, more democratic laws on the family and marriage, and women's greater involvement in the country's national reconstruction. It called on women to campaign for free education accessible to all citizens. Under military regimes it has demanded radical democratic changes and the abolition of Martial Law. In 1968 it became a member of the Women's International Democratic Organization. It maintains an active relationship with the latter and takes part in all its initiatives. In 1988 it campaigned widely to collect signatures in support of the Geneva Agreements on Afghanistan (see, Afghanistan-Pakistan Relations). For a number of years now, as a member of the *Women's Action Forum, it has been actively campaigning against the Hudood Ordinance and the Law of Evidence passed in the time of General Ziaul *Haq, which it sees as directly aimed against women, and the Qisas and Diyat Ordinance. Its programme envisages co-operation with the democratic women's organizations in other countries and peace movements.