Women councillors complain gender-based discrimination

Women District Councilors elected on reserved seats in District Council Chitral have alleged gender based discrimination and hatred with them in matters relating to the distribution of annual development funds. For highlighting the issue the women Councilors held a meeting and passed a unanimous resolution demanding of the provincial authorities to constitute a high-level investigation commission and make the District Nazim and District Naib Nazim/Convenor answerable and initiating of disciplinary action against them under KP Local Government Act, 2013.
District Council Chitral has a total of 38 members out of which 24 are directly elected while the number of women elected on reserve seats is 8. The remaining six members are two reserve seats each for youth, minorities and peasants. The two main religio-political parties, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and JUI-F have formed coalition government in district Chitral headed by JI nominee Haji Maghfarat Shah, as District Nazim and Maulana Abdul Shakoor (JUI-F), as Naib Nazim.
The copies of the resolution have been dispatched to Chief Minister, Speaker KP Assembly, Deputy Speaker KP Assembly, Minister for Local Governments, Chairperson Women Parliamentary Caucus, Women Commission, Chief Secretary KP, Local Bodies Commission, Chief Minister's Complaints' Cell, and Deputy Commissioner, Chitral respectively. In this connection, whenever the women district councilors stage protest they were being taunted with election on reserved seats.
The Women Councilors had warned that after failure in getting justice through legal courses, they will be forced on staging hunger strike camp and protest sit-in front of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly. Talking to this scribe Abdul Latif, District President of the ruling PTI in the province confirmed giving such treatment to women elected on reserve seats. The agony of the matter is that male district councilors elected on reserve seats are facing no such discrimination and as the District Naib Nazim/Convener, Maulana Abdul Shakoor of JUI-F who himself was elected on seat reserved for labour/peasant and other male councilors are getting discretionary development funds to tone of Rs 1.9 million for the year.
On the contact of this scribe, the District Naib Nazim, Maulana Abdul Shakoor rejected the impression and allegations made by the women councilors and said that they are treated at par with their men counterpart. He said that the annual development program (ADP) for financial year 2015-16, the women councilors were given 5% of the total budget for the welfare of the women each women councillor was released a fund of Rs 875 million beside another amount of Rs 0.265 million for the development while another amount of Rs 0.741 million was given to them.
Similarly, he said that during the current financial year each woman councillor was once again given an amount of Rs 0.875 million in head of women welfare oriented projects while another amount of Rs 0.3 million was paid in head of ADP to each women councillor. He said that women councilors were demanding equal share as irrespective of the fact they have been elected on reserved seats.
He said that due to direct elections a lot of people visit their offices and they are incurring expenses on them while women councilors have no such situation. To a question about his own status, he said that he is not an ordinary member and in capacity of District Naib Nazim has been given powers under the Local Government Act. He said that for the resolution of the issue, he had even offered the constitution a committee to look into the matter, but due to the stubborn attitude of women councilors on its members it could not progressed.