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Women barred from voting

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”. “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. Women were also not allowed to vote in Mariam Zai, Mariam Kagawala, Atman Zai, Tori Zai, Hazar Khawani and Bhana Mari UCs. Razia Sultana, a candidate for nazim in Charsadda, said JI and ANP workers took away ID cards from her voters. In Dera Ismail Khan’s six UCs, women voters stayed home. iqbal khattak

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