PESHAWAR: The women members of the Chitral district council have complained of discrimination saying they are not given sufficient funds for development schemes and women’s welfare though funds of their male colleagues have almost been doubled.

They warned they would set up a hunger strike camp outside the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly if the provincial government didn’t take corrective steps without delay.

In a joint statement issued here, councillors Aasia Ansari and Sifat Gul of the PTI, Husul Begum of the All Pakistan Muslim League, Nighat Perveen and Shakira Bibi of the JUI-F, and Shamshad Faraz of the PPP said they were elected to the Chitral district council on reserved seats but faced gender-based ‘discrimination and hatred’ in matters relating to the distribution of annual development funds.

They said they had raised the issue in the house many times and even staged walkouts, but to no avail.

The councillors warned they would set up a hunger strike camp outside the provincial assembly’s building to seek justice.

They demanded the provincial government form a high-level commission to look into the matter and make the district nazim and naib nazim answerable and initiate disciplinary action against them under the KP Local Government Act 2013.

The councillors also appealed to the chief minister, KP Assembly’s speaker, deputy speaker, local government minister, chairperson of the women’s parliamentary caucus, chief secretary, local bodies commission, the chief minister’s complaint cell and deputy commissioner for intervention.

They said the district nazim and naib nazim didn’t pay due attention to the problems of women councillors.

When contacted, opposition leader in the Chitral district council Abdul Latif, who is also the PTI district president, confirmed that the women councillors elected on reserved seats were discriminated against over the distribution of funds.

He said the men elected to the council on reserved seats, too, faced similar discrimination.

District naib nazim Maulana Abdul Shakoor said every women councillors got up to Rs1.8 million compared to Rs3.8 million given to male members.

He said women were elected on reserved seats, while the men reached the house through direct elections and therefore, the latter were given more funds on the basis of workload and direct contacts with the people.

“I have nothing to do with the matter. It is in fact the district council, which has approved the procedure for the allocation of funds,” he said.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2017