Female electorates of village Mohripur (Kabirwala) some 70-km north-east of Multan have never exercised their right of vote since the creation of Pakistan. A number of NGOs, Human Rights organisations tried their best to convince the residents of this area for sending their female voters to polling stations, but all in vain.
It is a thickly populated village where literacy rate is far better than other villages of this district. Its population is 30,000 and there are 7,000 registered female voters. Four castes (Biradaris) are in majority they are Aulakh-Jatt, Sahu, Kamboh and Sargana.
The Election Commission sets up four polling stations, two for women and another two for men in every election. Ghulam Mustafa Aulakh, advocate, who served as Khanewal District Bar president, said: "We are following the decision of our ancestors who had imposed ban on the women for exercising their right of vote."
He said he had lost the local bodies poll with the difference of only 150 votes, but he did not force the women of his area to cast their votes.
A patwari of the area, Chaudhry Noor Sultan Sahu, said: "Elder of Sahu Biradari had prohibited the women from casting their votes in 1947 as it was against the "Ghairat-o-Hamiyet" of Muslims".
All other Biradaris honoured his order and they are still complying with these orders in spite of elapsing 60 years. The Step organisation (NGO) Director Syed Anjum Raza said: "I and my team has mobilised the female voters to exercise their right of vote and I am optimistic that a few female voters would exercise their votes in the current election."
He said that two decades are required to convince the women to go to poll. Seventy percent residents of this village are farmers and some are employees in army, education, health and other departments.
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