KHYBER: A senior Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) woman leader Mehrin Afridi expressed serious reservations over her party’s decision of denying any representation to tribal women in the list of reserved seats for national and provincial assemblies.

Talking to journalists in Bara on Wednesday, the PTI former Fata women wing deputy general secretary vehemently rejected the list of her party’s candidates for reserved seats for women and termed it as a ‘robbery’ on the legitimate rights of tribal women.

She said that excluding tribal women from at least 22 to 23 reserved seats in the provincial and ten reserved seats in the national assembly respectively, was a huge disappointment for the party leadership and workers in the merged districts.

She alleged that some wasted elements within the party had also conspired to exclude her name from the list of tribal women recommended for reserved seats despite an initial approval from the top party leadership.

PTI’s women leader further alleged that an anti-workers group in the partywas not letting committed candidates to come forward and serve the party and the common people in the parliament.

Mehrin Afridi appealed to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur to order judicious investigation into the sudden exclusion of names of tribal women from the list of reserved seats quota, and put an end to the sense of deprivation among the female workers of the party in merged districts.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2024