Women Emancipation?
By Col. Riaz Jafri
(Retd)
Rawalpindi, Pakistan
According to a news report a pre-election agreement
was reached between all candidates in the bye-election
for NA-44 Bajaur seat to prevent women from exercising
their right to vote.
Preventing someone from exercising his/her constitutional
right to vote is against the constitution. Apart
from its being an unconstitutional act it also
debarred (more or less) 50% of the population
from electing a candidate of their choosing. As
such the Election Commission should declare the
bye-election null and void and announce a fresh
date for holding the bye-election. Meanwhile,
the political parties should take disciplinary
action against their candidates for violating
the party manifesto unless a party subscribes
to such a shameful concept of not allowing the
women to vote, in which case it must come out
openly so that all may know of such a stand in
this respect.
By the way, what is the stance of the religious
political parties in this matter? Will someone
dare announce it?
