Daily Times

Sir: For the Afghans April 5 was a day of triumph. The Afghans, including women, participated in elections with full zeal amid fear of terror. Two of the women were brought on the back of a mule to the polling station to cast their votes. One of them was an elderly woman while the other had given birth to a child on the morning of the Election Day. They refused to miss the historic day despite physical weakness. They both were hopeful for a bright future for their country and for the generations to come.

This reminds one of the battle of Mawand during the second Anglo-Afghan war, when a large number of women took part in the fight along with men to defend their homeland. The Election Day was similar to the Mawand battle, when the energetic Afghans, cutting across ethnic lines and gender bias, came out to say no to militancy. The only difference was that there were ballots instead of bullets and the war was not restricted to any battlefield, instead the entire Afghanistan had become a battlefield against the Taliban. There were no losers that day. It was a win-win situation for each of the Afghans. It was a battle between democracy and militancy. Democracy had won, defying the Taliban and their ruthless approach to governance.

Najeeb Kakar

Zhob