More than 10 years after the multi-party Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) alliance of religious parties refused to back Gen (rtd) Musharaf’s Women’s Protection Bill — this grouping has seemingly sensed the shifting sands here in modern day Pakistan. Namely, that women’s suffrage can, in the long-term, be a game-changer. Thus the MMA and Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazl-ur-Rehman has had an apparent change of heart; as has his coalition partner the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI). Both are presently actively courting women’s votes in their respective constituencies. Indeed, in a decidedly bold move, the JUI-F is reportedly urging affiliated clerics to press home to women the importance of going ballot-boxing. This is to be welcomed. Not least because JUI-F and JI have had a long tradition of pushing back against women’s participation in the democratic process; despite both having women’s wings and having proposed, with varying degrees of sincerity, women’s lists for the assemblies. Indeed, JI MNA from Swat, Aisha Syed, back in March indicated that the tide would most definitely be turning; particularly when it came to the women of Dir. The latter, she promised, would go cast votes this July. Indeed, she went as far as to remind everyone that women, constituting half the country’s population, could no longer be denied their fundamental rights. This is a positive development in terms of respecting the rule of law and sanctity of the vote. After all, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), in 2015, had legitimately nullified the results of the Lower Dir by-election on the grounds that women had been barred from participating. This paved the way for the Election Commission Act, 2017; providing for the same where women’s turnout is equal to or less than 10 percent. It also compels political parties to field women candidates on at least five percent of general seats for both the Upper and Lower houses. All of which signals that the system, however fragmented, is working on certain fronts. Or perhaps better put, that democratic competition is good for everyone. For this tilt towards being women-inclusive is part of the dividend delivered by PTI’s five-year tenure in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The party is widely recognised as having robust women’s wings across the provinces. It also indicates that cultural change can, at times, flow from legislative safeguards. The latter is an important lesson to keep in mind as Pakistan makes some headway in its democratic journey. Moreover, it silences detractors who insist that when it comes to empowering women — religious parties are slow on the uptake; focusing merely on political opportunism. For we as a nation have to start somewhere. And that time is now. * Published in Daily Times, July 6th 2018.