Decision pending: Women participation presents conundrum for PTI
Some quarters cite cultural limitations, others say participation necessary.
PESHAWAR:
The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leadership is yet to decide whether to take the party’s women activists to their ‘Peace March’ to South Waziristan or not.
And it seems that the party’s women leadership stands divided over the issue.
Where one group headed by former provincial women wing president Begum Nassem Hayat deemed the participation of women in the rally against the cultural values of the tribal regions, another group headed by former information secretary of PTI’s women wing Esmat Khattak vowed to participate despite threats.
In a statement issued from the PTI’s media cell on Thursday, Hayat said that the party’s women activists from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) will not participate in the rally. She said the decision was taken keeping in view the social and cultural values of the area (Waziristan), where women’s participation in public gatherings was deemed inappropriate.
“We can spill our blood for the party, but cannot participate in the march due to cultural barriers,” she said.
However, when contacted, Khattak rejected the statement saying that women had the right to participate and demonstrate against drone attacks in the peace march.
“It will be unfortunate for us if we do not participate in the march for which women have come from foreign countries to take part,” she told The Express Tribune.
Sources said that the party’s provincial leadership had expressed opposition to women’s participation fearing that it could provoke the Taliban to carry out attacks on the caravan.
Meanwhile, PTI’s provincial convener Dr Mehar Taj Roghani said that the party’s women activists from K-P were eagerly waiting to get a green signal from the “high command” adding that there will be women participation from other provinces.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 5th, 2012.
The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leadership is yet to decide whether to take the party’s women activists to their ‘Peace March’ to South Waziristan or not.
And it seems that the party’s women leadership stands divided over the issue.
Where one group headed by former provincial women wing president Begum Nassem Hayat deemed the participation of women in the rally against the cultural values of the tribal regions, another group headed by former information secretary of PTI’s women wing Esmat Khattak vowed to participate despite threats.
In a statement issued from the PTI’s media cell on Thursday, Hayat said that the party’s women activists from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) will not participate in the rally. She said the decision was taken keeping in view the social and cultural values of the area (Waziristan), where women’s participation in public gatherings was deemed inappropriate.
“We can spill our blood for the party, but cannot participate in the march due to cultural barriers,” she said.
However, when contacted, Khattak rejected the statement saying that women had the right to participate and demonstrate against drone attacks in the peace march.
“It will be unfortunate for us if we do not participate in the march for which women have come from foreign countries to take part,” she told The Express Tribune.
Sources said that the party’s provincial leadership had expressed opposition to women’s participation fearing that it could provoke the Taliban to carry out attacks on the caravan.
Meanwhile, PTI’s provincial convener Dr Mehar Taj Roghani said that the party’s women activists from K-P were eagerly waiting to get a green signal from the “high command” adding that there will be women participation from other provinces.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 5th, 2012.