07 October 2004	Thursday	21 Shaban 1425

LOLANG: Masooda Jalal has been clocking up some high mileage on the campaign trail for Afghanistan's presidential election. The only woman candidate to stand in the October 9 vote , Jalal has been travelling the rocky northeast, meeting people from the mountains and the valleys, criss-crossing the countryside and delivering her motherly message.

"I don't get the support of the media... so I have to go out," she says during a rare pause in her hectic schedule, sitting by a traditional tea and kebab vendor, wearing a smart suit.

"There is no interest from national media, only international. The national media are surrounded by warlords and powerful rich men," she says, conceding she has an uphill battle against incumbent Hamid Karzai.

As her campaign wagon hits the province of Parwan, at the foot of the snow-peaked ridges of the Hindu Kush, women in colourful local clothing turn their backs on the road, hiding their faces from passing strangers.

Men react more with curiosity and slight amusement when they see Jalal accompanied by her own travelling media circus. But her message doesn't always get across. In a country where four in five are illiterate, some mistakenly think her pamphlets emblazoned with the symbol of an ear of corn mean Jalal is handing out tokens for flour distribution.

The married 41-year-old, a professor of medicine at Kabul University even if she also has been a professor and until the Taliban militia took power in 1996, is trailing far behind Karzai and his main rival Yunus Qanooni in the race, if the campaign posters that line her route are anything to go by.

On reaching her destination, the village of Lolang some six hours by road from Kabul and dominated by the Hazara ethnic group, she delivers a low-key address to her all-female audience.

"Afghanistan should be considered a child. Now Afghanistan needs a mother. Let's consider that the people of Afghanistan is a wounded people and needs ointment to be applied on their wounds.

"There must be a doctor for this country," she says. "As a mother I will try to help your children. "Your sister does not have money. Your sister does not have military power. Do not let your sister alone. You will receive a letter with 18 pictures. There are 17 men and one woman. Choose the woman."

She then turns her attention to the men, gathered in the village's small mosque. "According to Islam, men and women have the same rights except in three different aspects: divorce, heritage and martyrdom," she says, reassuring them that "if I succeed... I will take care of you, of your houses, your roads and your health facilities."

Outside, the men dare not risk criticizing the candidate. One of them even offers open support for Jalal. "My favourite candidate is Massouda," says Ismael Ahmad, 30, to the mocking tones of other villagers.

"I would be quite happy if the president of Afghanistan was a woman, but I don't think the men of this country will accept it. Most people wouldn't accept a woman," says Masooda Zaher, 18, one of the three women teachers in the village.

"Since the fall of the Taliban, of course our lives have got better, but it's not enough. We don't have schools; we need clinics, hospitals," she adds. "Here people don't get to choose their husband. That would be good, if we could choose. The first thing women need is education, and the right to choose"

Around 41 percent of registered electors are women, Jalal says. "It is a very high figure for a first general election. I hope their husbands will allow them to vote. "Just make sure that this election is free and fair and I am the winner."-AFP