RAWALPINDI: Though all political parties claim to be working for the emancipation of women, none of them fielded a woman in the cantonment board elections scheduled to be held on April 25.

Moreover, there is also no independent woman candidate in the field. Interestingly, the cantonment boards have no reserved seat for them. Each of the two boards - Rawalpindi and Chaklala - has 10 elected members and two reserved seats. One of the reserved seats is allocated for minorities and the other can be filled by a farmer, labourer or a woman.

There are 264,571 voters in the Rawalpindi cantonment and 126,547 in the Chaklala cantonment. The percentage of the women voters in the two boards is 56.

Not a single political party gave any tickets to women while there is no independent woman candidate either

The ruling PML-N, which elected two MNAs on the reserved seats and one senator from Rawalpindi, seemed not willing to allow a woman to enter its team as it fielded all male candidates in the 20 wards of the cantonment boards.

“We are in favour of women’s role in politics but ironically we received not a single application from women to participate in the elections,” MNA Tahira Aurangzeb of the PML-N told Dawn.

Ms Aurangzeb was also a member of the parliamentary committee of the ruling party which finalised the names of the candidates. “Had I received any application from a woman, I would definitely have supported her.”

She said women were not financially strong and dependent on the male members of their families so they cannot make decisions on their own. “There is a dire need for creating awareness among the citizens that women can also be good leaders,” he said.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) also failed to bring any woman to the election arena in the cantonment areas.

The PPP could field only 14 candidates in the 20 wards of the cantonment boards in the garrison city and left the six wards open. “The PPP faced problems in finding a male candidate what to talk of women,” said a local leader of the party.

He said in Ward 10 of the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board, Abida Kiani wanted to contest the elections but the local party leader Zamrud Khan convinced her to withdraw in favour of Mohammad Shahid.

PPP City chapter spokesman Shujaat Haider Naqvi told Dawn that the party would bring a woman on the reserved seat if it got a two-third majority in the elections.

The PTI’s women wing is not active in the garrison city for the last many months after its president Ayesha Alvi left the party. Shabnam Mansoor was appointed as the chief of the PTI’s women wing but she is not active in politics.

Azra Noreen, a local PTI worker, wanted to contest the elections from the Chaklala Cantonment Board but the local leaders stopped her from entering the race as they thought that the party would lose the elections if it fielded a woman there.

“We have no strong women candidates. We are in favour of women’s participation in politics but women are not interested in taking part in elections,” said PTI MPA Arif Abbasi, who was also a member of the party’s parliamentary committee for the selection of the candidates.

He said in the present scenario the participation of women in the local government elections was difficult. Women should raise their voice and show their willingness if they wanted to contest the elections.

Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) district emir Shamsur Rehman Swati told Dawn that his party allotted ticket to a woman candidate in the Kamra cantonment board of Attock.

He said women were not interested in taking part in the elections in this area. “JI wanted to introduce women in politics and in this regard allotted a ticket to a woman in the Attock district. Women having strong influence in their areas can contest the elections,” he said.

When contacted, RCB Executive Officer Fahim Zafar Khan said under the Cantonment Act 1924, there was no reserved seat for women and the members can elect a woman, labourer or farmer on one of the reserved seats.

He said there was not a single woman in the election race, adding the returning officers did not receive any application from women.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2015

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