PESHAWAR: Having succeeded in overturning a jirga-decision last year that sought to prevent them from filing their nomination papers for the local bodies polls, Upper Dir’s elected female councillors now face a new political battle: the right to attend their respective council meetings.
As the situation currently stands, female councillors are barred from council meetings, with male relatives attending the sessions on their behalf.
“This practice, which deliberately deprives women of their political rights, is encouraged and supported by the leaders of the District, Tehsil and Union Councils,” a spokesperson of Individualland, a group of political analysts, told Daily Times on Wednesday.
Requesting not to be named, the spokesperson said that, according to Individualland researchers, the majority of elected female councillors were being represented at meetings by male family members.
“The male members regularly attend the district assembly sessions on their behalf, sign in for them, speak for them, vote for them and of course, needless to say, also collect their honorariums,” she said.
In Upper Dir, she said, sons, brothers, husbands and fathers were representing female councillors on reserved seats. So, for all practical purposes, the men in Upper Dir were occupying seats reserved for women while the elected women were forced to sit at home, she added... [More here]
And what is the federal government doing about this? Let me guess - nothing. So much for enlightened moderation. By the way, who/what is "Individualland"??
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