Women were stopped from voting in elections on Saturday in the north-western tribal district of North Waziristan, residents said. North Waziristan is one of seven semi-autonomous districts on the rugged border with Afghanistan which are a haven for Taliban and al Qaeda-linked militants.
Tribesmen were informed through mosque loudspeakers early Saturday that no woman would be allowed to leave home and cast a vote, according to a local resident in North Waziristan's main town of Miranshah. In North Waziristan, many women live in purdah, confined to women-only quarters at home and prevented from leaving the premises without a male relative.
On Wednesday pamphlets were handed out in Miranshah warning tribesmen not to let women vote in Saturday's general election, threatening punishment for those who did. "Take our words, this kind of disgraceful act will not be tolerated and anyone influencing women to cast a vote will be punished," said the pamphlet, signed by "Mujahedeen" and thrown from vehicles into shops.
Of the more than 86 million registered voters for Saturday's election, 37 million are women and 48 million men. In 2008, not a single vote was cast at 564 of 28,800 women's polling stations - 55 percent of them in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, officials said. In the most conservative areas, officials estimated women's turnout at just 10 to 15 percent of those registered.