MANSEHRA: Women standing in the Feb 9 general elections in Kohistan and Torghar districts have promised to fight for the rights of women and children after becoming assembly members.

They are contesting elections for general seats of assemblies for the first time in the history of the region, where women have limited access to formal education and have a very low literacy rate.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf activist Tehmina Faheem, an election candidate in Kohistan’s PK-31 constituency, complains that male election contestants never raised voice against child marriages and gender-based violence in their campaigns and therefore, those issues continued to prevail in the region.

“It is a big change itself that I, as a woman, am running for a general seat in the area as we [women] were always kept away from the electoral process and our right to vote was exercised through community alliances and in line with jirga decrees,” she told Dawn.

Insist it is a challenge for them to canvass in conservative region

Ms Faheem said since she was part of a patriarchal society, it was an uphill task for her to canvass for herself.

She, however, said she won’t lose hope and would continue soliciting votes.

The candidate said child marriages were rampant in Kohistan and Torghar areas due to the poor implementation of the Child Marriage Restrain Act, 1929.

“After election, we will legislate to do away with excesses against girls and boys through child marriages,” she said, adding that minors didn’t understand their roles and responsibilities as married couples.

She also said as an assembly member, she would also strive to address women’s issues.

Shakila Rabbani, a PTI candidate for PK-41 in Torghar district, said it was a big challenge for her to contest elections in a constituency, where the jirga system was deeply rooted.

“I’m highlighting the issues of child marriages and women’s rights in the election campaign – a first in the history of this erstwhile tribal belt,” she said.

Nilofar Bukhtiar, the chairperson of the National Commission on Status of Women, told Dawn that women would continue to suffer until they didn’t become part of the electoral exercise by contesting for general seats of assemblies.

“Child marriages are widespread in our country. We can address this core child rights issue only by prioritising it,” she told Dawn.

Ms Bukhtiar said the NCSW, in collaboration with the Unicef, United Nations Women and UNFPA, was working on a national programme against child marriages and for women’s effective representation in national institutions.

NOMINATION WITHDRAWAL: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-Parliamentarians central president Saleh Mohammad Khan has withdrawn his nomination papers for contesting election in NA-14 Mansehra.

Now, he will face Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz supremo Nawaz Sharif in the district’s NA-15 and PK-40 constituencies.

Meanwhile, PML-N divisional general secretary in Hazara Division Sardar Shahjehan Yusuf has withdrawn his nomination papers from NA-14 Mansehra-I constituency and said he would contest elections in PK-40.

Mr Yusuf’s father Sardar Mohammad Yusuf, a former federal minister, will contest elections in NA-14 as the PML-N nominee against Imran Saleem Swati of the PTI in that constituency.

Taimur Saleem Khan Swati of the PTI also withdrew nomination papers from NA-14 constituency leaving the field open to his party’s nominee, Imran Saleem Swati.

PTI’s Abdul Shakoor Lughmani also withdrew his nomination from NA-14. He will now contest elections in PK-40. PPP provincial general secretary Shujah Salim Khan is a candidate for NA-14 seat after withdrawal of NA-15 papers.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2024