4,214 women candidates in the run in LG polls
Saima Taj is a resident of conservative, backward and poverty stricken Mohmand tribal district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P). She is a candidate in the local bodies’ elections on Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) ticket from village council Kamalai, Halimzai 1. Her father Hiran Mohmand has also been contesting the election.
Until recently, cultural and religious barriers kept women away from politics or even jobs. In 2010 Taliban gunned down a female school teacher just one kilometer away from the residence of Saima Taj in Halimzai to make her an example for others.
Their primary motive was to keep women inside the four walls of their home and their policy of terrorizing people worked very well.
“In the past our traditions kept women away from the political pressure. There was a time when people thought that women don’t need a CNIC.
But when government launched the Benezir Income Support Program for needy people it forced the locals to have CNIC for their women because Mohmand is a poverty stricken district,” said Hiran Mohmand, Saima Taj’s father while talking to The Express Tribune.
“My daughter is educated and I encouraged her to come forward and take part in elections. There are three other women in the running from the same village council,” he informed, this reporter saying that there was no resistance from the clerics or local tribal elders.
“When my daughter contacts people they encourage her and some even offered to pay for her posters and banners as a sign of respect,” he said, adding that it was for the very first time that women were taking part in the elections in an area where in the recent past they were not even allowed to vote by the tribal elders or go to marketplace for shopping.
In village councils near Pak-Afghan border women have kept themselves completely aloof from elections but local residents think that this is due to law and order situation and fear of militancy rather than cultural taboos.
In K-P on 2,382 seats a total of 4,214 female candidates are in the running in the first phase of the local bodies’ elections and in the three tribal districts there are a total 591 women candidates.
As per the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) this is a record number and very encouraging.
In Peshawar there are a total of 558 women candidates in the running for 377 seats, in Nowshera 269 women for 146 seats, in Charsadda 273 candidates for 153 seats, in Mardan 339 candidates on 231 seats, in Swabi 178 women for 160 seats, in Kohat 142 women for 107 seats, in Karak 179 candidates for 61 seats, in Hangu 67 candidates for 62 seats, in Bannu 281 candidates for 116 seats, in Lakki Marwat 347 candidates for 101 seats, in Tank 169 candidates for 78 seats, in DI Khan 388 candidates for 186 seats, in Haripur 261 candidates for 180 seats and in Buner 172 female candidates for 105 seats.
By the same token, in Mohmand tribal district there are 157 women in the running for 65 seats, in Bajaur 241 women for 127 seats and in Khyber there are 193 female candidates on 147 seats.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 6th, 2021.