KOHAT: District election commissioner, Kohat, Mohammad Kareem has stressed the need for promoting women’s participation in the electoral process by ensuring violence-free polls.

He was speaking to the participants of a daylong workshop held here on Saturday titled ‘building the capacity of rural women to promote elections without violence’.

Potohar Organisation for Development Advocacy (PODA) organised the workshop in collaboration with the local election commission office.

Mr Kareem said a district voter education committee had been established with women also its members. He said each member of the committee was supposed to create awareness on how women could register as voters and lodge complaints to the department concerned.

He said the election commission and Nadra had launched a CNIC/voter registration campaign to decrease the gender gap in the electoral rolls by increasing the registration of women voters.

Dr Adnan Arshad, PODA project manager, shared the project’s overview and said violence against women in elections was a persistent challenge in Pakistan, undermining their participation in the democratic process as a voter, candidate, polling staff, polling agents and elected leaders, according to a press release.

The training was attended by 10 promising women leaders from four tehsils of Kohat, including those from Hindu and Christian communities, political workers, councillors, women lawyers, teachers, social activists and journalists.

On the occasion, Raheema Sultana, project coordinator of PODA, said awareness about women’s rights to having CNICs and to vote was essential for their empowerment.

Ms Rodada Esha Khan, the master trainer, spoke about the important sections of the Elections Act, 2017, saying that the relevant laws prohibited the use of force and harassment of voters. She said a special section of the Act stipulated that women should not be harassed as voters or candidates during the electoral process.

She explained that sections 167, 170, and 171 pertained to prohibiting harassment, violence and coercion in the electoral process.

Fatima Zahid, a participant, said they were sensitised to the unyielding issues surrounding women’s participation in elections.

Another women participant said religious leaders could play important role in sensitising communities to supporting women’s participation in peaceful elections.

MEETING: Additional deputy commissioner Shehryar Qamar, who heads a committee formed by deputy commissioner Dr Azamatullah Wazir for finding solutions to the longstanding problems of the oil and gas-producing Darmalak village of Lachi tehsil, has asked the people to remove underground illegal connections and pay Rs1,000 fixed bill every month.

He stated this during a meeting with the villagers. However, the residents demanded that they should be allowed to continue to get free gas.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2023