Women break taboo in LG polls
Times are changing rapidly in the most conservative tribal regions of the country as for first time in the history of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s (K-P) Bajaur district, a large number of women are also taking part in the local government elections.
Women have submitted their nomination papers in those village councils that are considered ultra-conservative even by local standards and where a few years ago women were not allowed to go out freely or even go to school as per the local tribal traditions. Militants imposed these traditions at gun point after their arrival and they also considered democracy against the religion. They even gunned down a female school teacher to discourage girls’ education in Bajaur.
War Mamond is one such place. It is considered the birth place of local Taliban in the district. They had also banned the girls’ education and didn’t allow even voting for men.
Democracy, however, has proved to be the best revenge against the ultra-conservative elements and their decades of suppressing the female voices.
Dabar is a village of War Mamond, Bajaur where five women candidates are contesting.
From village council 36, Dabar-1 five women are in the run including Zarqisha Bibi, Zakia Bibi, Hameeda Younas, Sadiqa Bibi and Halima Bibi.
From village council 39 Chinagai a woman Rabahat Bibi has been elected unopposed. By the same token, from village council 37 Dama Dola two women, Wala Bibi and Gul Shah Lal Bibi, are facing each other.
Village council 40, Bara Sewai was infamous for its Taliban base and it was unthinkable to see a women taking part in politics at any level back then but Shahina Bibi has been elected unopposed from Sewai unopposed.
From village council 42 Gabargai two female candidates, Tajira Bibi and Haya Bibi, are in the run.
A local elder told The Express Tribune that in the 2008 general elections in War Mamond tehsil there was no polling either for women or men due to the fear of local militants.
Nadia Bibi, who has been elected unopposed on Jammat-e-Islami (JI) ticket from village council Lar Raghgan said that women suffered greatly during militancy as they lost their sons, brothers and husbands.
“I left my education after matric because there was no college for girls in Bajaur. Literacy among the girls is lowest in the area. I would like to change it,” she said.
Her husband Gul Ahmad Jan said that a woman can better understand the problems of other women. He said that clerics and local elders are against the participation of women in politics but even then he allowed his wife to submit her nomination papers.
It is worth noting here that in a historic first a women candidate Badam Zari took part in the 2013 general elections as independent candidate from Bajaur. She secured just 142 votes and fled to Mardan before elections fearing for life due to threats from militants.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 20th, 2021.