Daily Times

The election campaigns are formally over. Pakistanis will go to the polling stations tomorrow and elect a new government. Despite allegations of pre-poll rigging and terrorist violence, the country’s democratic process is moving forward. As we celebrate the continuation of democratic process, the social and cultural taboos continue to hinder progress in parts of the country.

For instance, candidates for two National Assembly (NA) seats in the Khyber tribal district’s NA-43 and NA-44 constituencies have failed to reach out to the area’s women. The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) could only arrange a single corner meeting for women in a private house, while other candidates couldn’t even do that. Most candidates focused on all-male gatherings, with little mention of the area’s women and the issues they face. On the whole, women’s male relatives were the only vehicle candidates had to get their messages across to Khyber’s women.

The election candidates must be allowed to interact with women voters in their constituencies. As equal citizens of this country, women have as much of a right to make informed political decisions and opinions, without having to deal with the political biases of their menfolk.

Nevertheless, some progress has been made. After all, the Election Commission Act 2017 made it mandatory for a constituency’s winning candidate to get 10 percent of the female vote, otherwise results will be nullified. Furthermore, conservative religious parties — who have traditionally been opposed to women’s participation in the electoral process — actively courted the women’s vote in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

However, these developments have obviously not been popular with everyone in the tribal belt. Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal candidate for NA-43 termed the ECP’s new rule as “discrimination against the people of tribal regions” as it is against tribal norms. However, he quickly added that he wasn’t opposed to women exercising their right to vote.

Regardless, the ECP must take notice of this issue and ensure that it is taken care of well in advance. Social change cannot take place overnight, but it needs to be facilitated by all those who wish to see a democratic Pakistan where men and women enjoy equal rights.  *

Published in Daily Times, July 24^th 2018.