Pakistan

While we women welcome the initiative of talks taken by the government and stand in full solidarity with them, we would like to clearly state that women will not be a negotiating chip this time.

We have dealt with the Taliban for over a decade and with the traditional feudal mindset and patriarchal system for centuries. Whether it is in the name of Islam or in the name of tradition, it all falls on our heads.

Women voters were prevented from participating in the by-elections taking place in the Union Council Kari Shamuzi NA-25 earlier today, Express News reported.

The reason behind this is not yet known.

There are 308 polling stations where voting will take place till 5 pm.

There have been similar previous incidents in the past when women were prevented to vote. Not a single woman could cast her vote in NA-103 Hafizabad during the by-elections in August.

Few female candidates ran for seats in the by-elections for provincial and National Assembly seats in Pakistan recently, let alone won. Similarly, after the country’s general elections in May 2013, the number of women holding contested National Assembly seats fell from 16 to 6. To international observers, the numbers may make Pakistani women appear as passive observers in the country’s political landscape, complacent with the status quo. But the story of Pakistani women’s political participation is more complex.

The court has also ordered the ECP to withhold the notification of results from these constituencies till re-polling is completed.

A woman leader of the Awami National Party (ANP), who was a candidate on reserved seats for women, was shot dead inside her house in Hayatabad on Friday night.

Najma Hanif Jadoon’s spouse and former Tehsil Nazim, Hanif Gul Jadoon, was killed along with a 16-year-old son and a gunman in a suicide attack on his car in Swabi on the Eid day in November 2011.

For most women in Pakistan's war-torn and ultra-conservative frontier region, casting a vote in an election is an impossible dream, let alone standing as a candidate.