 PESHAWAR: Women in several NWFP districts were barred from voting in the local elections on Thursday, polling staff and a women's rights advocacy group complained. "There are complaints from Peshawar, Dera Ismail Khan, Karak, Bannu, Buner and Swabi districts where women were not allowed to vote," an Aurat Foundation spokesman told Daily Times. NWFP Senior Minister Sirajul Haq dismissed the reports as "propaganda".
| "Dat's right! Pure calumny an' fabrications! Lies, too!" |
"We have received no such report from any district and I don't know why the media is so sensitive about this issue," he told reporters.
In Sheikh Muhammadi Union Council in Peshawar, women's polling station No 51 was deserted as local elders stopped women from voting. "Not one voter has turned up between 8:00am and 1:00pm," a woman presiding officer said. |