PESHAWAR, April 3: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Women Affairs Nilofer Bakhtiar has said that elections in those areas where women were stopped to participate in the electoral process should be declared void.

Speaking at a gathering of women parliamentarians of different political parties here on Saturday, she said that all the women parliamentarians irrespective of their political affiliation should unite for the protection of women's rights.

She said that she would very soon visit Lower Dir and would meet the jirga which was alleged to have stopped the women from participation in the local government by-election.

She said that federal ministry of women development had taken notice of this problem when the provincial government showed helplessness in the disenfranchisement of women in some parts of NWFP.

She said that some political and institutional reforms were also under way under the Gender Reform Action Plan (GRAP) and the steering committees at the provincial level were working on the plan.

Miss Bakhtiar said that the federal ministry ofwomen development and the NWFP government had resolved some of the differences on the Gender Reform Action Plan (Grap).

"The federal government faced a little problem from the NWFP government, but the chief minister, Akram Khan Durrani, promised to give full support in this matter," Miss Bakhtiar said.

Replying to a question, she said that the National Commission on the Status of Women was a watchdog and only non-political people would be selected to sit on the commission instead of parliamentarians nominated by some provinces.

She denied when asked if differences existed between Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali and PML(Q) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on the expansion of the cabinet.

She also said that PML(Q) would support all those bills tabled in the national assembly which were related to women's rights.

Clarifying the PML(Q) position on a bill presented by PPP MNA Sherry Rehman in the national assembly on the empowerment of women, she said that the bill was opposed on technical grounds as the bill was based on 11 provisions which touched some policy matters.

"This bill sought repeal of Hudood laws which can not be done away with in one go, because these are Islamic laws," she said.

She said that PML(Q) fully supported the bill on 'honour killings', seeking that honour-killing should be declared a penal offence. She said that all parties were unanimous that the killing of women in the name of honour was a crime against humanity.

She said that women should get united irrespective of their political affiliation.Sheaddedthatifthe women parliamentarians failed to oppose the disenfranchisement of women in some parts of the NWFP, they would lose the chance of re- election to the assemblies in future.

"Women in NWFP have been deprived of their rights and the differences between the federal government and NWFP government on some issues relating to women had aggravated the situation in this province," Miss Bakhtiar said.