As federal minister in the six-member Pakistan Caretaker Government from June 5 to August 18, 2018 Roshan Bharucha of Balochistan’s portfolio included Azad Jammu Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan, railways, human rights, SAFRON (States and Frontier Regions) and postal services. Her appointment was expected to "strengthen the cause of diversity, equality and inclusion in Pakistan,” noted a write-up in the July 2018 issue of What’s On, the newsletter of the Karachi Zarthosti Banu Mandal. Nearly a decade ago as provincial minister in the Balochistan Caretaker Government she was in charge of sports, social welfare, population and tourism for five months. Even prior to that she had served as provincial minister of Balochistan from June 2000 to March 2003 handling these departments plus information technology, informal education, human rights, youth, manpower training. Her forte, according to her curriculum vitae, is being a "natural and persuasive communicator recognized amongst colleagues for keen ability to energize and inspire individuals to work towards achieving a common goal; excel in creating consensus among divergent groups.”
"On many occasions I found her to be a ‘go-getter’... I can always see the thirst in her eyes to do more for the welfare of people,” remarked Isphanyar Bhandara, former Member of Parliament in Pakistan.
An educator and social worker for over three decades with experience in Balochistan, Quetta and Lahore, she took up her first assignment as administrative officer with the International Labour Organization and the government of Pakistan in 1987. For the next three years she worked as administrator and finance manager for GTZ (German agency for) Labor and Manpower Department in Balochistan. Her goal for the last three decades has been "to provide a platform, education and support network for the underprivileged, vulnerable group of society.”
She established the first SOS Children’s Village (to protect the interests and rights of children) in Balochistan with two children and today it has 129 orphans under its care. As noted the What’s On piece, "her late husband Khursheed always accompanied her as it cheered him having sustained a stroke and being wheelchair bound.” Her "garage school” helped young boys working for garages learn Urdu and Math everyday.
For women empowerment she launched HUNAR (Human Unity, Networking Ability and Resources) where ladies are taught skills and vocational training to help them be self employed. Equally commendable is her work for those in jails, providing free legal aid to women and facilitating the release of prisoners who have served their terms but are unable to raise the requisite fine. Every Ramzan she collects money for their release.
She has also played a key role in restructuring the sports department and activities in Balochistan, encouraging the youth to avail of exchange programs with neighboring countries to get better exposure to sports, fine arts, music and educational training. An arts graduate from the University of Punjab, Bharucha earned her BEd degree and MA from the University of Balochistan and a subsequent qualification in finance and accounting for non-financial executives at PIMS in Karachi, according to her bio data.
Always keen to retain contacts with the common man, she recounted her experience as UNICEF’s goodwill ambassador for polio. When visiting a village she was shown how the poor and the animals drink similar water. She drank tea made from that water, had lassi made from goat milk and was then welcomed as one of them! On another occasion when she was accompanying an American visitor who was impressing on the villagers the need to conserve water, one of the villagers retorted, "We barely have water for our basic needs. We don’t have flush toilets and washing machines… Go tell the rich who actually waste water.”
Bharucha’s contribution to social welfare has earned her different awards including Tarraq-e-Niswan Balochistan, Pakistan Human Rights, Shaheed Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai and others.