"During my brief visit to the Kingdom, I interacted with women and their organizations in Riyadh and Jeddah, and am convinced about the manner in which the Kingdom is going ahead with tackling women's issues, especially in further improving their position in society and creating employment opportunities," she said in an interview with Arab News over the weekend.
Najma, who performed Umrah recently, said a major stride taken by the Kingdom is in appointing a woman as minister.
"I was pleasantly surprised when I heard that Nora bint Abdullah Al-Fayez, a well educated former teacher, was made deputy education minister in charge of a new department for female students. This is just one example to show that women can look forward to better opportunities in the future," said Najma, a leader of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and former deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Parliament), who has been working for the cause of women through her political career spanning several decades.
Although, some Muslims have been doing exceptionally well, there is still a lot to be done for those who belong to the lower strata of society.
"They need to be educated and trained, and gainfully employed," she said while emphasizing that the federal and state governments need to show their seriousness in raising the status of Muslims in her country.
Asked about the events unfolding in Mumbai and elsewhere in the country on the release of a movie “My Name is Khan,” Najma said: "It's nothing but one-upmanship' between Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and his estranged nephew Raj Thackeray, who heads the rival Maharashtra Navanirman Sena.
"Each time one Sena makes a statement or takes a stand on some issue or the other, the other Sena makes a move adopting a challenging posture, thus taking Mumbai and Maharashtra state ransom. This has nothing to do with the movie or its makers or actors," Najma said, adding that she hoped the law and order situation would not worsen.
On the move initiated by India for a secretarial level talks with Pakistan, she said she welcomed it as such interactions would pave the way for normalizing relations between the two neighbors. She said she was keeping her fingers crossed on the outcome of such talks as "Pakistan has not shown its seriousness in recognizing that its land was being misused by terrorists for plotting against India."
