NA Speaker Fehmida Mirza honoured

NEW YORK: A prominent American think-tank Thursday night presented the 2012 Leadership Award to leading Pakistani and Afghan women parliamentarians.

Fehmida Mirza, the first woman speaker of Pakistan's National Assembly, and Ms. Shinkai Karokhail, a women's rights activist and member of the Afghan Parliament, received the leadership award for their inspiring records, according to a press release issued Friday by the EastWest Institute (EWI).

Japan's Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba accepted the Institute's International Peace Building Award on behalf of the Japanese people, who have provided critical economic and development assistance to Afghanistan.

The reception and dinner took place on Sept. 27, 2012, at the Four Seasons Restaurant in New York. The EasWest Institute's Board Chairman Ross Perot, presented the awards to the parliamentarians, the first to Dr. Mirza.

"We are proud that she has been personally instrumental to the success of our Parliamentarians Network and its Women, Peace and Security initiative. She is an inspiration to us all," Perot said.

Shezreh Mirza, the award winner's daughter, and Dr. Donya Aziz, a prominent member of the National Assembly of Pakistan, accepted the award on behalf of Dr. Mirza.

Speaking of her mother's firm belief in women's empowerment, Shezreh Mirza quoted her as saying: "Women don't make war. They make peace. Women don't take life. They give life."

Mirza and Ms. Karokhail are the first recipients of the leadership award named for Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak.

The wife of the late Sheikh Zayed of the United Arab Emirates, founded the first UAE women's organization in 1973: the Abu Dhabi Society for the Awakening of Women, the press release said.

These honorees are deeply involved in EWI's Women, Peace and Security trust-building work in Pakistan and Afghanistan, it said.