SWABI, Oct 2: Women will play a crucial role in the next general elections and the Awami National Party plans to ensure their full participation, enabling them to exercise their right to vote.

This was stated by chief organiser of district women’s wing of the ANP Yasmeen Jasim here on Monday.

Addressing a workers’ convention, she said that the party’s women’s wing could play a crucial role in strengthening the party and achieving a total victory in the next general election. She said that it was the right time to educate women voters about their votes’ importance and also of their participation in the election.

She dispelled the impression that women voters in the district would not be allowed to exercise their right to vote like the previous elections, especially in the local bodies’ elections.

Acknowledging that women were considered to be inferior in the Pukhtun society, she said that extraordinary changes had occurred during the past five-years. She said that if the results of the public awareness campaigns were any gauge, women’s rights movements would gain strength in near future.

“There is no doubt there are hurdles, but we have to focus on our objectives. Here, the role of educated women is very important,” she said.

GOLD MEDAL: The Pakistan Academy of Sciences has awarded gold medal for 2006 to Dr Mohammad Abid, an associate professor of the faculty of mechanical engineering of the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology in recognition of his outstanding contribution in the field of engineering and technology.