BARIKOT: To break away from the sweltering heat, scores of families are flocking Jarral Park along the Swat River in Shamzoo valley. The park is a popular for its scenic view and serene environment.

Usama, a seventh-grader who had come with his family from Thana village, said the cool water along and pleasant weather had a soothing effect.

“We had only heard about this park and its beauty. But seeing is believing. We can even swim here,” said Fawad, who was sitting with his friends.

Meanwhile, others were seen climbing mountains or enjoying the rubab, which was being played by a member of a lively group.

“We have come here with a group of friends accompanied by a rubab performer. I have never seen such a beautiful place,” said Zarif Khan, adding the place had the perfect combination for an entertaining vacation.

“It has breathtaking views, great weather and folk music,” the tourist said, swaying to the rhythm of the rubab.

He added that Swat valley was a peaceful and serene place, saying more tourists should vacation there.

There are various routes to Jarral Park, but taking the cable car has its own charm.  The aerial lift, installed across the river from Panjigram village is the shortest way from Peshawar-Mingora on Grand Trunk Road.

“We came via the cable car, which seemed a bit risky. We were afraid at first, but it turned out to be very different from what we were expecting,” said another tourist.

According to the cable car operator, a ticket costs Rs10 on a weekday. However, on the weekends the fare doubles as more tourists visit the park. “I normally earn around Rs10,000 to Rs15,000 a month,” said Bakht Sheawan, businessman.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 20^th, 2013.

“The temperature in our village is increasing day by day, so we came here,” said Usama, a seventh-grader who came with his family from Thana Village. He added the river’s cool water, the surrounding mountains and pleasant weather made the park a serene place.

“We had heard about this park and its beauty. It offers a place for swimming and a peaceful environment for families to enjoy,” said Fawad, a young boy sitting with his friends in the park.

Some people were seen swimming in the river, while others were climbing mountains. Visitors could enjoy the rabab, which was being played by a young man as a lively group of men danced nearby.

“We have come here with a group of friends accompanied by a rabab performer. I have never seen such a beautiful place,” said Zarif Khan. The place had the perfect combination for an entertaining vacation. “It has breathtaking views, great weather and folk music,” the tourist explained, swaying to the rhythm of the rabab. Zarif added the Swat Valley was a peaceful and serene place, saying more tourists should vacation there.

There are various routes to Jarral Park, but taking the cable car has its own charm.

The aerial lift, installed across the Swat River from Panjigram village is the shortest way from Peshawar-Mingora, GT Road. “We came via the cable car, which seemed a bit risky. We were afraid at first, but it turned out to be very different from what we were expecting,” said a woman visiting.

According to the cable car operator, a ticket costs Rs10 on a weekday. However, on the weekends the fare doubles as more tourists visit the park. “I normally earn around Rs10,000 to Rs15,000 a month,” said the thriving businessman, Bakht Sheawan.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 20^th, 2013.

Higher Education Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Director Noorullah Khan Wazir was the chief guest at the event. Students, faculty members, chairperson of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Swat among other educators also attended the ceremony.

“I congratulate all the students on receiving laptops because it is in recognition of their hard work,” said the principal of Postgraduate Jahanzeb College, Zahir Shah.

Zahir also stressed on the need for faculty members to teach students to the best of their abilities.

Noorullah Khan Wazir in his speech said science and technology had transformed the world into a global village and minimised distances between people. “We have to shun the old and extinct methods of education and need to adopt modern trends. A computer is an indispensible tool in education,” he said.

Commenting on the Naway Sahar scheme, he said is was based purely on merit and hoped it would be extended to other colleges in the province.

Sara Azmat, a bachelor’s student who received a laptop, said a computer is crucial for research as everything is just a click away. “I am grateful to the government for awarding me a laptop. It will help improve my studies,” she said.

Muhammad Kamran, a computer science student, also received a laptop. “I had been in dire need of a laptop as I was unable to do my practicals in the lab because of load shedding. We will now be able to carry on our studies without disruption,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2013.

Extended hours of load shedding make lives difficult, especially for the girls. “We cannot remove our veils due to cultural and religious barriers. It gets extremely hot for us inside the [examination] halls,” explains Bushra Aziz, an exam candidate in Saidu Sharif.  Things get slipperier than eels as “often our handwriting is made illegible by drops of sweat.”

It does not start there. Things get hot under the collar even as they prepare for their exams during painful hours without electricity. “We don’t understand why Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) observe unscheduled and unannounced load shedding, often for four hours at length,” complained Aziz.

“Today, electricity was suspended at exactly 8am and did not come back till 11:30am. We attempted the whole paper in extreme heat and darkness,” protested Bibi Asma, an FSc student, while talking to The Express Tribune.

Many of the male candidates taking the intermediate exam complained about mismanagement by the examination staff, saying students had not even been provided with proper seating.

“We sit on the bare ground which makes our clothes dirty and it’s uncomfortable to sit on the ground while attempting an exam. At least they should provide us with proper chairs so we can do our papers in a proper manner,” said Arshad Ali, another exam candidate.

However, an official from the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Saidu Sharif persisted: “Examinations are being conducted smoothly and there is no management issue.”

Candidates in the on-going intermediate exams appealed to the government to issue directives ensuring there is no load shedding during the times scheduled for their papers. The students also urged if load shedding had to take place, they should arrange for alternative solutions.

A total 31,622 candidates are taking the intermediate exams; 103 centres have been set up across the district.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 17^th, 2013.

BUNER: Men forcefully stopped women from casting votes at various villages in district Buner of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

According to local news reporters, local jirgas barred women to cast votes. “In Dherai, Malak pur, Matwanai, no women polling held as elders in the areas unanimously decided not to allow women to cast votes. The decision was accepted by all political parties too,” said Shaukat Yousafzai, a local reporter.

While it was also reported at Nogram that women were not allowed casting votes. However, in the rest of Buner, polling went smoothly where men and women participated in balloting enthusiastically.

SWAT: In Thesil Kabal and Matta mismanagement caused much uproar in the female polling stations where some workers and political agents of some political parties reportedly forced women to cast vote in favor of their parties.

However, after complaints from voters, soldiers of Pak Army were called and deployed to streamline the polling process. “Some of the political agents in the women polling stations of Tehsil Kabal were forcing female voters to cast votes in their favor, so, we immediately complained to the ECP and they sent security forces to control the situation after which everything got streamlined,” Fazal Wadood, a local resident of Tehsil Kabal told The Express Tribune.

There was high fever and enthusiasm observed among Swat people, they streamed out to cast votes however, the process of polling seemed very slow. Queue of thousands of people waited for hours outside the polling stations for their turn. “We demand for extending time so that we manage to cast vote,” Farooq, a voter who was waiting in queue outside of the polling station in Mingora, told The Express Tribune.

Though in many women polling stations, polling turnout was very low, however coming out of women was encouraging move.

For the first time in history, all the female polling stations were functional where women polled their votes. “Though, in our area, men had decided to stop us from voting but we came and cast our votes. In the morning when women were not coming, I went to different homes personally and brought out women after motivating them for using their right to vote,” an old lady in Amankot female polling station told The Express Tribune.

“For the first time in my life, I cast my vote and used my right. At first I was a bit nervous inside the polling booth however, everything got better and I stamped according to my wishes, for peace in my country,” Shaista, a female voter told  The Express Tribune after casted her vote.

Women were contented with the security situation as tough security measures were taken. Along with police, soldiers of Pak Army were patrolling to tackle any unpleasant situation.

“This is the last chance for change and if people missed it this time, they would repent in the rest of their life. So I came out for change, positive change which leads our country toward democratic development and prosperity,” Abdullah, a voter in Saidu Sharif told The Express Tribune.

Elders of Upper Dir district, under the head of Malik Jehanzeb and Malik Faiz Muhammad and leaders of political parties in the region reached an agreement that women will not be allowed to cast their votes.

Jehanzeb though did not clarify whether the political parties’ local leadership had made a joint decision. “Even if allowed to vote, women would not be able to cast their votes because polling stations are in far flung areas in Upper Dir,” he said.

According to him, there are other issues preventing women from voting such as the absence of separate polling booths for women along with security concerns.

The move comes despite the Election Commission of Pakistan making it mandatory for women to vote and cleared a law which called for a mandatory 10% of the votes at every polling station to be cast by women.

The party leaders also unanimously decided that if anyone violated the ban, they would pay a 10-million-rupee fine.

Political parties in some areas of Swat have also decided to prevent women from their right to franchise.

“We attended a meeting at Lwarey Jamaat in which members of all political parties and elders of the area participated. They all unanimously decided to maintain their tradition of not allowing women to poll,” an elder of Amankot village told The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity.

Civil society groups staged a protest in Saidu Sharif against the decision. “What is the reason behind the decision? Who are these men to stop us from our legal right? Why are they holding jirgas and meetings to stop women from using their constitutional right? We clearly convey this to the ECP and other related institutions that if women’s voting ration is less than 10%, we will never accept the result,” said Tabassum Bashir, a women’s rights activist.

PPPP to empower women, not disenfranchise them

Secretary General Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians and former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has said that PPPP believes in emancipation and empowerment of women and it did not enter into an overt or covert agreement to deprive the women of their right to franchise.

Ashraf said this in a statement on Friday in response to reports that alleged PPPP had entered into an agreement with other political parties like Awami National Party and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam in Upper Dir to ban women from voting.

“I wish to make it abundantly clear that the policy of the party has been and will continue to be to empower women and there is no question of doing anything that would lead to disenfranchising women.”

Former Awami National Party Senator Zahid Khan also said on Twitter that his party was not involved in any deals that barred women from voting in Dir. “Any speculation to the contrary is incorrect.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2013.

MADYAN: Leaders of Pakhtunkhwa Mili Awami Party (Pk-MAP) on Wednesday asserted pukhtuns should have rights overall resources present in the Pukhtun belt.

They were addressing a political gathering in Madyan as part of their election campaign for NA-30 Swat-II and PK-85 Swat-VI.

In his address, Mukhtiar Yousafzai, a candidate for NA-30, claimed every institution in the government is heading in the wrong direction, thanks to the erroneous policies of previous governments.

“Pukhtuns are treated with less partiality and their resources have been captured by the federation. Pukhtuns have no authority over their own resources. We want all Pukhtuns, whether they are from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa or Balochistan, to be united under one province where they should have sole authority over their natural resources as enjoyed by Punjab and Sindh,” said Yousufzai.

Describing his party manifesto for the 2013 elections, Yousafzai said Pk-MAP will not only stall the ever-escalating rate of inflation, but also reduce it. Pukhtuns must have equal share in military and civil services, he added.

Yousafzai suggested installing new power houses to tackle the issue of load shedding. His manifesto also touched upon creating employment opportunities in the province so all the Pukhtuns working abroad would be motivated to come back and work in their own country with honour.

The political gathering was also addressed by PK-85 candidate Akhtar Ali and Pk-MAP leader Nawab Khan.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 9^th, 2013.

Social and political activist in Bandher village, Rehmat Shah said their polling station has been set up in Kilawano Dherai which is 25 kilometres away. He termed this an “injustice”.

“Majority of our people are very poor and cannot hire vehicles to travel so far. Only a few young people will be able to go while the rest, particularly women and the elderly, will be deprived of casting their vote,” said Shah. “When we approached the returning officer (RO) to convey our concerns, he did not pay heed to us.”

Another political activist, Gul Rahman said several villages, including Sar Thana, Bandher, Kohey, Shera, Ala Dhosh, Toot Kallay, Kamela and Banda among others, are located in far flung and hilly areas. He agreed polling stations have been set up away from the villages.

“There are more than 2,500 voters in these areas and we will not be able to vote,” he complained, adding they took the matter up with the RO who said it was impossible to change the location.

Villagers demanded to restore their 2008 election polling station and appealed to the chief election commissioner to establish polling stations closer to their homes.

When contacted Buner’s district assistant election commissioner said the establishment of polling schemes is the RO’s responsibility and not of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Meanwhile, RO for PK-77 claimed people were making false statements. “Every voter wants to have a polling station at their doorstep. There is no truth to the statement regarding the polling station being set up 25 kilometers away from them,” he said.

He added the ECP assigned the polling stations and they cannot be changed now.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2013.

“We are really happy with the move because we need to maintain a peaceful environment within the polling stations,” said Gulfam, a female teacher in Matta. “We can do the job easily as we know our local women very well. However, there must be male police guards outside the polling stations for fool-proof security.”

Women’s participation in the polls has always been subject to cultural traditions. It is the men who decide whether they should be allowed to vote or not. The presence of female security will give women voters the confidence to take part in the polls.

“The situation has become more risky by the advent of insurgency, as militants have attempted to ban women from coming out of their homes even for education,” said Bushra Zarin, a social activist in Khwazakhela. “Although there is peace nowadays, women still feel threatened so female security is a must at polling stations.”

Far flung areas such as Matta tehsil and Kabal are still very conservative with respect to women voting.

“The authorities must play a role to ensure the safety of women in those areas,” said Afsha Ishaq, adding this would only be possible with the presence of female security personnel.

However, the biggest challenge facing authorities in this regard was the low number of female police officers in Malakand. “To tackle the number issue, we decided to deploy female staff from the education and health departments and give them the same authority enjoyed by police officials,” said DIG Malakand, Abdullah Khan.

The decision to deploy female police during the polls has been taken for the first time and has been largely welcomed.

“This is very good move as culturally and traditionally our men do not allow women where there is male presence,” said Aisha Rehman, a primary school teacher. She added women would now be able to freely cast their ballots on Election Day.

Earlier, the government decided to place retried police personnel, Frontier Constabulary and army troops at polling stations.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 5^th, 2013.