September 26, 2002	Thursday	Rajab 18, 1423

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LANDI KOTAL, Sept 25: With Wapda plan to install meters in the tribal areas postponed till the holding of the local bodies elections in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, another electricity related issue was haunting the locals.

Every tribesman was required to deposit Rs300 as the electricity bill at the time of applying for a computerized identity card.

The condition badly hampered the Nadra drive in the areas as a majority of the tribal people refused to deposit the money, thereby depriving themselves of an important national document.

Now that the election commission has made it compulsory for every voter to produce his identity card at the time of voting and the elections are just two weeks away, most of the eligible tribal voters are in a fix as they are without their national identity cards.

The issue was raised by the candidates from almost all the tribal areas as a result of which Nadra, through a circular issued on Sept 18, asked all the tribal agencies to waive the electricity bill condition till the holding of elections.

The political authorities were also told to accept the registration forms from tribal people for the acquisition of manual identity cards. Manual identity cards are being urgently provided by Nadra to enable the tribal people to exercise their right to franchise.

However, the political authorities in Landi Kotal are still charging Rs300 from every applicant for the acquisition of the computerized identity card.

“Registration is the basic right of every citizen and they should not be deprived of this right,” a Nadra official reacted, adding that such moves by the tribal administration would affect the registration drive.

Meanwhile, candidates from the Khyber Agency NA-45 constituency held a meeting with the political administration in Landi Kotal to chalk out a strategy about women voting.

The candidates were pressing the administration to stop women voting as it was against tribal traditions. Their plea was rejected by the administration.

It is pertinent to mention that more than 75 per cent of the Khyber Agency women voters are without identity cards.