An indecent union

It may be hard to believe but it is true that almost all the major political parties in this country have unblushingly united on an anti-democracy stand.
According to a news report, local leaders of various political parties met in Timergarh, Lower Dir, earlier this week, and unanimously decided not to allow female candidates to file nomination papers for the upcoming by-elections to local bodies seats reserved for women.
Not only that, they also decided that women would not be allowed to cast their votes, even if some of the candidates somehow managed to file their nomination papers. By-elections are due for 196 women's seats in the Lower Dir area that have remained vacant since the local bodies elections of 2001.
These include 136 general seats and 68 reserved for peasants and workers. They are vacant because of the same problem that has arisen now.
At the time of the last elections, only six female candidates managed to file their papers for the general and two for the peasants/workers seats. Doing that, of course, was no easy job.
They had to face threats of violence and social pressure, which they were able to withstand with the support of some strong-willed NGO activists.
The defiance of these few women clearly shows that, like their peers in other parts of the country, women living in this area are equally desirous of participating in the political process.
No prizes for guessing right that among the parties wanting to keep them out are the Jamiat-i-Ulema Islam (F) and the Jamaat-i-Islami, even though in other parts of the country the latter has a completely different policy.
In fact, women who have found their way into the assemblies on the JI ticket include the daughter of the party chief himself.
Other opponents of the Dir women's right to stand as candidates and vote in elections are the self-styled progressive parties like the ANP, the PPP (Sherpao), as well as the not-so-liberal mainstream parties, the PML (Q) and the PML (N).
The ANP not only has women legislators in the assemblies like the two PML factions, the former is headed, unchallengeably, by a woman, while the latter too has had a woman, Nasim Wali Khan, holding the top leadership position for a considerable length of time.
In fact, when it comes to mainstream politics all of them claim to be great champions of women's rights.
What then is their consideration in actively opposing women from asserting their political and legal rights to stand as candidates for seats that are reserved only for women? It is a case of unashamed expediency.
Their objective is to maintain the support of the local leaders who say it is against their cultural values to let women contest elections.
As per this twisted logic, women living in Dir are to be deprived of a basic political right simply because it clashes with the area's old traditions, which are rooted in underdevelopment.
Going by that logic it would be wrong for the government to abolish despicable customs such as that of dowry, child marriages etc, because they are part of an old cultural tradition.
Besides, one basic principle of party politics is that members are required to follow the party line even when they might hold an opinion which is at variance with that of their party.
Therefore, the parties in this case cannot hide behind the 'cultural values' argument. It amounts to depriving women of an important right and perpetuating socio-political backwardness in the name of 'old cultural values'.
Women legislators, especially those, who occupy reserved seats, have a special responsibility to raise the issue in Parliament and hold the parliamentary leaders of the errant parties accountable for uniting to disenfranchise the women of Lower Dir.
The Federal government as well as the Chief Election Commissioner must also ensure that women of this area get to exercise their candidature and voting rights.