Badam & Nusrat may be first drop of rain in a suffocating hot summer which has lasted many years.
JUBAIL, SAUDI ARABIA: As Pakistani politicians struggle with the legacy of General Ziaul Haq while facing the disqualification axe under the Constitution via Articles 62 and 63 (introduced by General Zia under malicious intent), somewhere else history has been made by people defying the legacy of the now-dead dictator.
Two women, one from Fata and the other one from the Provincially Administrated Tribal Areas (Pata), have filed nomination papers to contest the upcoming elections. Badam Zari will contest the election from Bajaur Agency, one of the seven tribal agencies under Fata where tribal women are generally not allowed to even cast their votes in elections. The other woman, Nusrat Begum, will contest from Lower Dir — an area which was occupied by the Taliban as recently as 2009.
Though we all welcome this supposed change in mindset from the comfort of our cosy living rooms, these two women face real dangers in a brutal world. They are standing up to get themselves accepted as equal human beings while challenging the Taliban who have held Fata at gunpoint. Health workers are unable to conduct polio vaccination campaigns, girls’ schools are frequently targeted with impunity, women rights activists are targeted and the whole atmosphere is one of fear.
One need not mention Farida Afridi, Malala Yousufzai and Perween Rahman who were openly threatened by the Taliban and eventually targeted. We don’t want to establish memorial funds in the name of Badam Zari and Nusrat Begum, we want them to be alive and play an active role in the country’s politics. Badam and Nusrat may be the first drop of rain in a suffocating hot summer which has lasted many years since the Americans defeated Soviets in Afghanistan. We have to break this never-ending cycle of miseries in our region.
Masood Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, April 7th, 2013.
