Around 16,000 women were deprived of their due right in NA-5 despite the local administration’s repeated pleas to convince jirga members otherwise. PHOTO: EXPRESS/ZAFAR ASLAM
The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Friday constituted a special bench to hear the case pertaining to women being barred from voting during Thursday’s by-elections in some polling stations of Nowshera and Lakki Marwat.
The two-member bench headed by PHC Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and comprising Justice Manzoor Hussain has summoned senior officials of the provincial government including inspector general of police (IGP), Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Home and Tribal Affairs secretary, K-P chief secretary, provincial election commissioner and candidates for the said constituencies.
Jirga members who decided to not allow women to cast their votes have also been ordered to appear before the court in the first hearing of the case on August 26 along with the concerned district returning officers.
Polling stations where women were not allowed to vote included those numbered 53 to 60 and 73 in NA-5 Nowshera and those numbered 11 to 17, 64 and 66 in NA-27 Lakki Marwat. Returning officers confirmed women were denied their constitutional right on August 22.
The court took notice of the issue following an application filed by Election Monitoring Cell In-charge Sofia Waqar Khattak. At first, PHC chief justice ordered the provincial election commissioner to extend polling time till 6:30pm. The court later stayed the results of these two National Assembly seats and ordered re-polling in the said stations.
The court also ordered relevant district police officers and deputy commissioners of Nowshera and Lakki Marwat to arrest jirga members who issued the decree.
In line with PHC’s orders, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced re-polling will take place, but has not yet revealed the date on which it will be held.
Around 16,000 women were deprived of their due right in NA-5 despite the local administration’s repeated pleas to convince jirga members otherwise. The deputy commissioner and DPO even offered to provide transport facilities to women, but elders from the area rejected the proposal.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 24th, 2013.
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