PHC notice on women voting ban may prevent future abuse of civil liberties
PHC to hear senior officials of the government, district ROs, local elders today (Monday).
File photo of Peshawar High Court. PHOTO: FILE
PESHAWAR:
The timely notice of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on August 22 – the day of the by-polls – on women being barred from exercising their constitutional right to vote is promising.
While returning women one of their most basic rights, the suo motu notice will put an end to political parties’ unending circle of blame.
Without the court’s intervention, parties with sway in NA-5 Nowshera and NA-27 Lakki Marwat (where women were barred from voting) could rest their electoral defeat on other parties’ interference in the vote bank.
The notice is also a signal to those who kept women away from the polls: a strong judiciary will not tolerate violation of the Constitution. And the alert it sounds reaches everyone from the district government and the police to local elders.
Women in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) have consistently been dealt with in a manner which deprives them of basic rights. Over the years, such incidents have forced those outside the government’s apparatus i.e. human rights organisations or individuals to raise voices for them.
In the case of Nowshera or Lakki Marwat, the difference lies in the response: no one is above the law. Candidates and local elders of both districts took it upon themselves to decide women would not be permitted to vote.
The PHC took notice of an application submitted by Election Monitoring Cell Incharge Sofia Waqar Khattak and summoned senior officials of the government, district returning officers and local elders today (Monday).
A special bench headed by PHC Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan, comprising Justice Malik Manzoor will hear the case. The Election Commission of Pakistan is expected to conduct polling in the coming week in NA-5 and NA-27.
“A PHC notice is very significant because women have always been kept from their rights through illegal decisions taken by a few. This action can go a long way in stopping others from depriving women of their civil liberties,” stated Pak Women/ Women Association Struggle For Development (WASFD) Executive Director Azra Hussain.
Those who take such decisions should be punished in a manner after which no one would dare repeat the action or keep women away from their basic rights, said Hussain.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 26th, 2013.
The timely notice of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on August 22 – the day of the by-polls – on women being barred from exercising their constitutional right to vote is promising.
While returning women one of their most basic rights, the suo motu notice will put an end to political parties’ unending circle of blame.
Without the court’s intervention, parties with sway in NA-5 Nowshera and NA-27 Lakki Marwat (where women were barred from voting) could rest their electoral defeat on other parties’ interference in the vote bank.
The notice is also a signal to those who kept women away from the polls: a strong judiciary will not tolerate violation of the Constitution. And the alert it sounds reaches everyone from the district government and the police to local elders.
Women in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) have consistently been dealt with in a manner which deprives them of basic rights. Over the years, such incidents have forced those outside the government’s apparatus i.e. human rights organisations or individuals to raise voices for them.
In the case of Nowshera or Lakki Marwat, the difference lies in the response: no one is above the law. Candidates and local elders of both districts took it upon themselves to decide women would not be permitted to vote.
The PHC took notice of an application submitted by Election Monitoring Cell Incharge Sofia Waqar Khattak and summoned senior officials of the government, district returning officers and local elders today (Monday).
A special bench headed by PHC Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan, comprising Justice Malik Manzoor will hear the case. The Election Commission of Pakistan is expected to conduct polling in the coming week in NA-5 and NA-27.
“A PHC notice is very significant because women have always been kept from their rights through illegal decisions taken by a few. This action can go a long way in stopping others from depriving women of their civil liberties,” stated Pak Women/ Women Association Struggle For Development (WASFD) Executive Director Azra Hussain.
Those who take such decisions should be punished in a manner after which no one would dare repeat the action or keep women away from their basic rights, said Hussain.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 26th, 2013.