A commendable achievement

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has done some good work to increase women's participation in the electoral process, registering 4.5 million new female voters. According to its Additional Director General, this has been achieved by launching a two-year long motivational drive in the tribal districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, where the difference between male and female voters was more than 10 percent. Mobile vans of Nadra were used to offer free national identity card service, and Friday was fixed as the women-specific day, which helped register them as voters. Given that even though women comprise 49 percent of the population, the number of female voters is 12.5 million less than their male counterparts, it is a worthy accomplishment. ECP deserves to be lauded for it.

That though does not mean all the newly enlisted female voters will also be able to actually exercise their right to vote. Under the Election Act, disenfranchisement is an offence, yet in some tribal districts such as Lower and Upper Dirs, it has been common practice for the mainstream parties to join hands with local jirgas to enter into agreements aimed at barring women from participating in elections. This has gone on despite the fact that under the Election Act, disenfranchisement of women is an offence. The ECP has had the authority to declare null and void the result of a national or provincial assembly election where the number of women voters turns out to be less than 10 percent of the registered voters. But the law kept being flouted, prompting civil society activists to approach the apex court before the last general election. In its ruling, the court ordered the returning officers and deputy commissioners in Malakand division to take preemptive action against the candidates, political parties and influential persons who signed agreements to prevent women from voting. Still, there have been reports of violations from not only tribal districts of KP but also some parts of Chakwal and Multan districts of Punjab.

The attitude is hardly surprising considering the anti-women prejudices prevalent among members of the ruling class, like KP Chief Minister's Adviser on Elementary and Secondary Education who last month had directed heads of all government-run girls schools to instruct their students to wear chador, abaya or gown, ostensibly, "to protect them from any unethical incident." As usual, the cover for the action was religious and cultural traditions. Few accepted that the government should act as the custodian of socio-religious traditions. After the move drew a barrage of criticism, Chief Minister Mehmood Khan intervened to overturn his adviser's imposition. Yet last week, another member of the ruling PTI, a village councillor in Mardan district, distributed burqas worth Rs 100,000 among students of a government girls middle school, saying he was inspired by the recent notification issued by the CM's adviser asking girls to observe 'purdah.' It is about time the PTI better sensitized its leaders about issues pertaining to women's rights. It surely is not the business of the government to tell girls/women whether or not they should wear the veil. Its job is to deliver good governance, which is where the ruling party should focus its attention.