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Afghanistan/South Asia
Women candidates defy conservatives in Pakistan
2005-08-16
PESHAWAR - When two men called at Razia Sultana’s house late one night to persuade her not to stand in upcoming local elections, it made her more determined to fight. The 35-year-old is one of thousands of women in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province who are bravely defying an illegal ban on female candidates and voters imposed by Islamic clerics and conservative politicians. “They came to my house and pressurised me not to stand in the election,” she told AFP. “So I told them to bring a letter from President Musharraf saying I couldn’t be a candidate, otherwise I would go ahead.”
That's not pressure. When they take an AK to you and your entire extended family, that's pressure.
Sultana remains scared and has demanded military protection for herself and for female voters in her constituency in Charsadda—where hardliners last month torched dozens of television sets after a cleric ruled them un-Islamic.

The controversy highlights not only the fight against religious intolerance in Pakistan but also the second-class status still endured by many women in the Islamic republic of 150 million people. Military ruler Pervez Musharraf has often vowed to rid Pakistani society of extremism. Last month he expelled foreign students from Islamic schools after possible links emerged with some of the July 7 London suicide bonbers. He also went to the Supreme Court to overturn a bill introducing a Taleban-style moral policing system in North West Frontier Province, where many women still wear burqas.

And for some, the increasing number of female candidates in the province -- 6,497 have filed nomination papers compared with 4,740 who ran in the last elections five years ago—gives cause for hope.

The local council elections are being held in two phases, on August 18 and 25. Although they are being held on a party-less basis, they will nevertheless indicate how much influence conservative Islam still wields in Pakistan.

“In a society where females enjoy no rights, contesting elections in such a big number indicates a women’s revolution is on its way,” 27-year-old candidate Shad Begum told AFP. She is contesting a seat in the remote northern district of Dir, where Islamic fundamentalists last week reached an agreement with local politicians to bar women from voting or standing in elections. “What else can you call it but a revolution, when women in an extremely hostile environment are defying clerics and a ban imposed by so-called liberals and democrats?” said Begum, who regarded [a dead woman] activist as her mentor.

Pakistan’s top electoral officer vowed this week to annul any election results in districts where women had been prevented from either contesting seats or from casting their ballots.

The husband of another female candidate praised the courage of women who defied the ignored the threat posed by fundamentalists. “This is a big revolution,” said Sherzada Khan, whose wife Kishwar Sultana is also standing in Dir.

Muslim leaders were unrepentant, however. “In Western democracies, women have right to vote or contest elections,” said Qazi Fazlullah, the alliance’s leader in Dir. “But we have Islamic systems in this province and western democracy is not compatible with Islamic laws.”
"Hrrrrr! We'll fight to the death to remain stupid and backwards! Allan wants it that way!"
Posted by:Steve White

#1  These ladies have ovaries the size of bowling balls.
Posted by: raptor   2005-08-16 06:56  

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