By-election in upper Dir: Zardari underscores need for greater women's participation

Former President, Asif Ali Zardari has called upon the provincial and local party leadership in Dir to bring out women in large numbers to cast votes in the bye election in PK-93 upper Dir, Tuesday.
In a statement the PPP Co-Chair said that the Party believes in empowering women and has rejected all deals in the past between vested interests to keep the women folk out of the electoral politics and voting. Regardless of the outcome of the election results in PK 93 tomorrow our sisters and daughters must not be deprived of their fundamental right to vote in the election and express their political opinion without fear, he said.
Let the bye election Tuesday in Dir send a clear and loud message to all that the Party rejects obscurantism and treating women as serfs or second class citizens, he said. Whether some one likes it or not and regardless of who wins let us send this message in an unambiguous and clear manner, he said.
Zardari also warned against any possible manipulation of election results on the Election Day and asked the Party workers, independent observers and members of the civil society to keep a watch on the voting process. He said that the Secretary General of the Party former Prime Minister, Raja Pervez Ashraf had already addressed a letter to the Chief Election commissioner on the subject and expressed the hope that the elections will not only be held fairly and transparently but will also appear to have been thus held.
Spokesperson Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the electoral contest tomorrow Tuesday has turned out to be a straight fight between the ruling coalition alliance in the province represented by the JI candidate on the one hand and the PPP supported by the opposition parties including the ANP, JUI and PML-N on the other. The winner of 2013 election belonging to JI from this constituency PK 93 was de-seated after the PPP pursued the case of his fake degree.
Expressing apprehension that it was natural for the ruling coalition in the province to "desperately seek to win the seat- because of the urge to avenge the embarrassment of the de-seating of its sitting MPA," Raja Pervez Ashraf in his letter to Chief Election Commissioner had asked for measures to prevent any manipulate in the election process and results.-PR