It is indeed deplorable that even in the21st century women in some parts of Pakistan are not allowed to cast their vote
Zubaida Begum, an outspoken union councillor from Upper Dir, who was awarded with the Social Worker Award in September 2004, once said that she’s always motivated to do something for the women of her region who faced gender discrimination on a regular basis.
Zubaida did her graduation from the University of Peshawar and worked as a teacher for almost 20 years. She broke the shackles of outdated customs and traditions of the region and contested the last local government elections when all the political parties had agreed not to allow women to take part in the elections or cast their vote. She stepped forward and was elected to a reserved seat for women; but in her own words, the conservative people of her area (Darora union council) started resenting her presence.
Facing all odds, Zubaida also ran an NGO’s resource centre and worked for the development of her union council. To boot, she was responsible for carpeting the main road to the union council and brought the problems of local women to the limelight. She even held a press conference to bring the attention of the government to the lack of female education and problems that girls’ school were facing in her locality, a fact that had made her open a vocational centre for women.
Zubaida, a widow with three daughters, faced severe opposition from conservative men and had to pay a very heavy price for her involvement in local politics and for being outspoken about women’s rights.
On July 1, 2005, some unidentified men barged into her residence and shot her dead while she was asleep. Later on, her 19 year-old daughter, Shuamaila, who was also riddled with bullets, died at a hospital in Peshawar.
Zubaida was a member of the district public safety commission, and was aspiring to contest for the seat of district councillor. She was also thinking of taking part in the election of the district nazim in the upcoming LG polls, for which she had already started the campaign for women’s representation.
Gone is Zubaida, who was like a breath of fresh air in Upper Dir. And now, once again, major liberal and religio-political parties have entered into an agreement in district Lower Dir to stop women from exercising their right to franchize during the forthcoming local body elections. The announcement was made by party heads in district Lower Dir on on July 13. They termed such female activities against their local customs and traditions.
Apart from district Lower Dir, as some women rights groups suggest, women are also likely to be deprived of this right in other districts including the Malakand Agency, Upper Dir, Shangla, Kohistan, Batagram and some parts of Mardan, Swabi and Peshawar.
Akbar Khan, head of the District Coordination Committee Dir, formed under the Citizen Campaign for Women Representation (CCWR), informed this scribe that the meeting, at which the dreaded decision was taken, was held behind closed doors and local leaders hailing from eight political parties unanimously said that they would not allow any woman to participate in the LG elections.
“Mohammad Rasool Khan, former district naib nazim and an aspiring candidate, told the local press at a briefing that all the major parties have decided that they would not allow women to take part in the elections and cast their vote,” Akbar Khan said.
Local leadership, including Maulvi Mohammad Gulaab, district Amir of the Jamat-i-Islami and general secretary of the JI, Haji Mohammad Rasool Khan, Haji Bahadur Khan, district president of Awami National Party (ANP), Malik Mohammad Rashid, district president of PML(N) and Malik Jehanzeb Khan, former MPA, Sahibzada Sikandar of PML(Q), Fazlullah, district Amir of the JUI, Malik Azmat Hayat, district president of the PPP and Khursheed Khan and Bakht Baidar Khan of the PPP (Sherpao) held a meeting at a local hotel of the district and decided unanimously that none of them would either field female candidates or allow women to cast their vote. They also decided that if any political party violated the decision, even after the unwritten agreement reached between these parties, the other parties would oppose it.
When asked to comment on the situation, PPP spokesman, Senator Farhatullah Babar said in a stern manner: “PPP is not a party to this agreement and local leadership is not allowed to do this.”
According to Mr Babar, the PPP has nothing to do with such agreements and the party believes in women’s representation in politics. The party will take disciplinary action against those local leaders who enter into such agreements.
“If women do not want to come out and cast their vote, nobody can force them; but it is not a party policy to stop women from casting their vote and contest elections,” Mr Babar said.
The representation of women in Lower Dir was quite low even in the previous LG elections. Female union councillors filled only eight seats. Out of 204 union council seats, 196 seats remained vacant.
“Very few women voters turned up in the last LG elections as the situation was the same even last time,” observed Akbar Khan.
He said, NGO workers and their family members were harassed and pressurized not to run campaigns in order to motivate women to participate in the elections.
“The Election Commission should be proactive to avoid such agreements and declare the elections in such areas null and void,” he suggested.
The ban has been continuing since the first LG elections that were held in 2000. Religious scholars in public announcements in some union councils like Gunda Karkana, Shekhano, Rajar have even declared women’s participation in elections as “sin” and “forbidden”. In 2001, during the second phase of the LG elections, many union councils of district Swabi and Mardan, local religious and political leaders signed an agreement on stamp papers and declared that women would not be allowed to cast their vote.
Rakhshinda Naz, resident director of Aurat Foundation, running the Citizen’s Campaign for Women’s Representation in all the districts of the province, said the foundation had made several attempts to bring such violations to the notice of the relevant institutions and authorities concerned, but no action has so far been taken.
During the launching ceremony of one of her campaigns she observed that in many districts the behaviour towards the issue of women casting votes in the LG elections is hostile and the government should do something about it. The government should at least provide security to women contestants, she said.
These activities are most likely to continue as neither the government nor the central leadership of main political parties is taking action against the local leaders who are usually involved in signing agreements that stop women from being active members of society.
It is indeed deplorable that even in the21st century women in some parts of Pakistan are not allowed to cast their vote 
Zubaida was a member of the district public safety commission, and was aspiring to contest for the seat of district councillor. She was also thinking of taking part in the election of the district nazim in the upcoming LG polls, for which she had already started the campaign for women’s representation.
When asked to comment on the situation, PPP spokesman, Senator Farhatullah Babar said in a stern manner: “PPP is not a party to this agreement and local leadership is not allowed to do this.”
