Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) encourages women to register as voters

PESHAWAR: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday launched a special campaign to encourage more and more women and members of disadvantaged groups to get computerized national identity cards and register themselves as voters.

Joint Provincial Election Commissioner Javed Khan launched the campaign during a special ceremony here, where KP Ombudsperson for Protection of Women against Harassment at Workplace Rukhshanda Naz and Nadra director Shabbir Ahmad were also in attendance.

Mr Javed said the role of the education, local government, and social welfare and health departments was very crucial for the success of the campaign, which was meant to register 25,000 women and other people.

He urged media, civil society and political parties to play their due role for higher voter registrations.

The official said the ECP was committed to ensuring the participation of people from all walks of life, especially women and members of disadvantaged groups, in the electoral process.

“We [ECP] have made our offices accessible to physically-challenged persons,” he said.

Mr Javed added that efforts would be made to ensure that such people reach polling stations without trouble.

Ms Rukshanda said her organization was working to address the issue of workplace harassment in the province. She said the ECP as well as all government departments were cooperating with the ombudsperson’s office.

 

Lahore High Court (LHC) grants interim bail to Dua’s husband

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Thursday granted interim protective bail to the husband of Dua Zahra, a Karachi girl who contracted marriage against the will of her family.

Zaheer Ahmad, the husband of the girl, along with his counsel, appeared before the court of Justice Aalia Neelum.

The counsel argued that the girl married the petitioner of her own free will as she was legally major. He said the family of the girl had been levelling false allegations of kidnapping, which she refuted. He said the Sindh police also registered a baseless case against the petitioner.

He said police were likely to arrest the petitioner and asked the court to grant protective bail him so that he could approach the court concerned for the pre-arrest bail.

Justice Neelum allowed the petition and granted interim protective bail to Ahmad till July 14.

A fresh medical report prepared on the order of the Sindh High Court to determine the age of Dua Zahra who had gone missing from her Karachi residence in April but was later found to have married Ahmad in Lahore concluded that her age was between 15 and 16 years.

The parents of the girl had been claiming that she was legally minor and could not contract marriage under the law.

Source: Dawn