Pakistan - Women apartheid

It appears duplicity and politics were born twins in Pakistan. They happily coexist as an essential condition to obtain a vibrant democratic order in the country. But how do they do that, two happenings this past Thursday, one in Islamabad and the other in the highlands of tribal areas, offer the answer. On this day, the Senators, almost across the aisle, were losing breath pledging support for moves to ensure equal political rights for women in the country. And in Lower Dir, not even one out of the 47,280 registered women voters came up to any of the 90 female - only polling booths to cast her vote. In the Senate, a passion-packed discussion erupted almost instantly as the MQM's Nasrin Jalil pointed out that a jirga (local council) of Diamer District had barred women from casting votes in the Gilgit-Baltistan legislative election being held next month. And that the said Jirga was joined by the candidates of PML (N), PPP, PTI and JUI (F). The PPP Senator, Saeed Ghani, took no time to inform the house that following these reports his party has withdrawn the ticket awarded to its candidate. Leader of the House Raja Zafarul Haq termed it an 'alarming' development, assuring the house he would take it up with the G-B governor. And, Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani was of the view that 'disentrancing women was certainly unconstitutional and illegal act'. Even the JUI's (F) Attaur Rehman volunteered, saying disenfranchising women is not his party's policy, 'but it would be inappropriate to force women to vote'. So far so good. But there were no women voters on the ground in Lower Dir where the candidates of these very parties were in a furious contention to win Pk-95 vacated by Jamaat-e-Islami Emir Sirajul Haq. In compliance with a 'hidden agreement' all the candidates had decided that women would stay home. The so-called 'honour' had once again won over the 'right'. Can someone bereft of his rights be an honourable person - what else is duplicity that has become a sine qua non of our national politics. 

It defies common sense that none of these 47,000 plus women did not want to vote. That the women from tribal areas are not interested in politics is an argument that has no buyers. Only two years back, a woman named Nusrat Begum was a candidate in NA-44 (Lower Dir) and not far from here Zari Begum was a candidate from NA-44. And guess who opposed Zari Begum; it was the PPP stalwart Akhundzada Chattan, who was critical of her 'act' which he found violative of tribal customs and traditions, as Nusrat Begum, then PTI district vice-president, was pitted against her own party's 'official' candidate. That makes one believe that the kind of excessive chest-thumping and over-my-dead-body pledges to uphold the cause of political equality for women often heard from country's high forums is anything more than a mere sham. The truth of the matter is that whatever may be the excuses the women voters of Pk-95 were barred from participating in the election, and anyone involved in that nefarious act is liable to be tried in the court of law. The constitution makes it absolutely mandatory that men and women in Pakistan have equal rights. Back in 2010, the National Commission on the Status of Women had asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to take a serious notice of the practice through which jirgas bar women from casting their votes. But the ECP seems to have slept over this. But that's no more on. The election to Pk-95 held last Thursday lacks legitimacy. It should take place again, with adequate care taken against shamans and political wheeler-dealers who secure 'fatwas' and Jirga verdicts if and when such a strategy suits them. Circa 2015, women apartheid in Pakistan is unacceptable.