PESHAWAR, June 19: The adviser to prime minister, Nilofar Bakhtiar, has urged the MMA government to facilitate the process of election of female councillors in certain local government institutions.

Ms Bakhtiar, who also looks after the women development ministry, said this while presiding over a meeting of the members of the NWFP assembly and a women delegation from Lower and Upper Dir at a hotel, according to a handout issued on Saturday.

She said that 40,000 seats were reserved in the local bodies institutions for female candidates all over the country. However, she pointed out, elections could not be held on 4,000 seats for certain reasons.

In Dir district, she said, the election process could not complete for 98 seats. She urged the MPAs to put in maximum efforts for creating conditions conducive for election of female candidates.

The delegation apprised the adviser about the problems compelling the women to stay away from the election process in Dir and Swabi districts. Ms Bakhtiar assured the delegation of her support in this regard.

NWFP senior minister Sirajul Haq, who was also present, said that the government was trying to improve the condition of women and added that their priority was to increase the female literacy rate in the less developed areas and strengthen the female healthcare system.