KOHAT, Sept 28: A retired teacher, Kishwar Sultana, who did her masters in education in 1968, is the first woman to file her papers for a national assembly seat from a very backward and conservative area of Hangu district.

She says, “I regard the candidates from Muttahida Majlis-i- Amal as my arch rivals for obvious reasons. They fan sectarianism, fundamentalism and want to keep the women deprived, and uneducated.

Also, they do not give women their rights and due respect in society ensured by Islam. It is my obsession to see women of the area raise their voices against injustices being done to them in this male-dominated society.”

Sultana lives in a small village with 188 houses on the border between Hangu and Kohat district known as Juzara whose total population is approximately 2000.

Talking to Dawn at her residence here, she regretted that previous governments had done nothing for women.

She praised the policies of President Musharraf, who, she said, has provided an opportunity for woman to enter parliament.

She says, “I was afraid of contesting elections as it requires great courage to enter politics and that too when you belong to a rigid Pakhtoon society.

“I decided to join Pakistan Awami Party because it is a party of the poor and weak. All other parties change their manifestos all the time.”

She regretted that the women’s organizations were doing nothing in the far-flung areas and had confined themselves to only big cities where they conduct seminars and workshops.

She says there is much to be done in the field of education.