July 03, 2007	Tuesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 17, 1428

PESHAWAR, July 2: The Alliance for the Protection of Human Rights (APHR), a group of civil society organisations, has appealed to the Election Commission of Pakistan to extend the period for display of draft electoral rolls.

In a statement issued here on Monday, the APHR — comprising the Aurat Foundation, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Khwendo Kor, Strengthening Participatory Organisation, Shirkat Gah, Human Resource Management and Development Centre, Sungi Foundation and Noor Education Trust — said that people were not coming forward to check and enlist their names in the voter lists because of the cumbersome voter registration process.

The human rights body said that display centres lacked the required facilities, thereby equally discouraging the people and the staff.

They said that official timings for display centres were from 9am to 5 pm, but the Election Commission personnel were not observing these timings.

The APHR said that most of the 5,551 display centres set up across the NWFP, had been established far away from residential areas, making it very difficult for the people to visit these centres to go through electoral rolls. The group said that voter lists were flawed, as the names of about 20 million voters were missing from them.

The APHR expressed astonishment at the men-women gap in the draft electoral rolls and questioned why the names of a large number of women had been left out.

The APHR pointed out that in the NWFP women had the lowest percentage of enrolment (40 per cent), adding that it was a matter of concern as women had always faced discrimination in the province.

There had been instances in the past when women were barred from voting and contesting in several parts of the NWFP, the statement added, urging the Election Commission of Pakistan to ensure maxim registration of woman voters in the draft-electoral rolls.

The group urged the Election Commission to take proper steps for making the ongoing electoral process transparent and fair. Error-free voter lists were the first step towards that end, the group’s press release concluded.