Women vow to defy men who banned their vote in Pakistan village

In this picture taken on July 6, 2018, Pakistani villager women gather outside their home in Mohri Pur village, where women had previously been banned from voting, some 60 kilometres from Multan, a central city in southern Punjab province. (AFP)
Updated 12 July 2018
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Women vow to defy men who banned their vote in Pakistan village

  • Nearly 20 million new voters have been registered in the rapidly growing country, including 9.13 million women, the commission says
  • In Mohri Pur, located in Punjab province, women do work outside the home and some receive education, yet the vote ban holds

MOHRI PUR, PAKISTAN: Men banned women from voting in the village of Mohri Pur sometime around 1947, and they have obeyed ever since -- until this year, when changes to Pakistan's election laws and women's attitudes could shift the dynamic.
At least, that is the hope of many women meeting beneath a Jambolan tree in the village some 60 kilometres (35 miles) from the central Pakistan city of Multan, its shade protecting them from the blazing sun.
Whether the men watching angrily as the women speak to AFP reporters will allow them to follow through when the nation goes to the polls on July 25 is another question.
"They perhaps think that women are stupid... or there is an issue of honour for them," says 31-year-old Nazia Tabbasum.
Village elders banned women from voting decades ago, claiming that visiting a public polling station would "dishonour" them.
So-called "honour" describes a patriarchal code across South Asia that often seeks to justify the murder and oppression of women who defy conservative traditions by acts such as choosing their own husband, or working outside the home.
"I don't know where their honour goes to sleep while they lie down at home... as their women work in the fields," Tabbasum adds, scathingly.
But the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has declared that at least 10 percent of voters in each constituency must be women, otherwise its results will be voided.
Nearly 20 million new voters have been registered in the rapidly growing country, including 9.13 million women, the commission says.
It is another step in women's long battle for rights in Pakistan, a deeply patriarchal country of some 207 million people -- though it does little to address the gender imbalance of the 2013 elections, in which male registered voters outnumbered female by some 11 million.
The shift also sets the stage for a stand-off in conservative rural areas, like Mohri Pur.
"The main reason is that these are the areas where women are not allowed to even come out of the house," says Farzana Bari, a gender expert and rights activist.
The ECP's rule change should improve things -- though Bari warned that within each constituency there could yet be pockets where women are prevented from voting.
There is plenty of precedent: in 2015 men stopped women from voting in a local poll in Lower Dir, in the northwest. The ECP promptly cancelled the result.
In 2013 a court ordered the arrest of male elders in two other northwestern districts over banning female votes in the previous general elections.
In Mohri Pur, located in Punjab province, women do work outside the home and some receive education, yet the vote ban holds.
Many of the younger women under the Jambolan tree are eager to exercise their rights -- but not all.
Widow Nazeeran Mai, 60, says it is not "custom" for women to vote. "(T)here is no one to stop me, but still I don't vote because nobody else does," she says.
Others fear violent reprisals.
"If they go to vote alone, there will be violence and unrest, the men will abuse and beat them, so it's better not to go," explains 22-year-old Shumaila Majeed -- though she remained determined to get as many women to the polls "as possible".
Even Mohri Pur's lone female councillor Irshad Bibi -- elected under laws stipulating at least one woman on every village council -- has never voted.
When asked why, she calls on her husband to speak for her.
"Our elders had set up this custom... We stand by this today," the husband, Zafar Iqbal, tells AFP.
"In any civilised democracy, half the population ought not be disenfranchised," says newspaper columnist Hajrah Mumtaz.
But local politicians say they are helpless.
"I can't break their tradition... the people of this village have to decide when they will allow women to vote," says Raza Hayat Hiraj from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.
Bismillah Noor, a member of the district council who arranged the meeting under the Jambolan tree, says the men are stubborn.
"I've been trying since 2001 but nobody listens to me," she says. "In 2005, men told me their women don't want to vote so I should not force them."
Another attempt in 2013 also failed.
The determination Noor hears from the village women now gives her a glimmer of hope -- but progress is fragile.
In 2015, one woman, Fouzia Talib, became the only one in Mohri Pur to vote in local elections. She was ostracised.
Now, she is unsure if voting on July 25 for politicians she believes will do little for the area is worth the backlash.
"I will see," she tells AFP.


Zelensky hails ‘three years of resistance’ on Russian invasion anniversary

Updated 4 sec ago
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Zelensky hails ‘three years of resistance’ on Russian invasion anniversary

KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday hailed three years of “resistance” and “heroism” on the anniversary of Russia’s 2022 invasion.
“Three years of resistance. Three years of gratitude. Three years of absolute heroism of Ukrainians,” Zelensky said in a post on social media, adding: I thank everyone who defends and supports it.”


Bangladeshi students, who ousted former PM Hasina, set to launch political party

Updated 23 min 37 sec ago
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Bangladeshi students, who ousted former PM Hasina, set to launch political party

  • The student group is finalizing plans to launch the new party during an event likely on Wednesday
  • Nahid Islam, a student leader and adviser to the interim government, is expected to lead the party as convener

DHAKA: Bangladeshi students, who were at the forefront of last year’s protests that ousted then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, are set to launch a political party this week, two sources with direct knowledge of the development said.
The Students Against Discrimination (SAD) group spearheaded the protests that began as a student-led movement against public sector job quotas but quickly morphed into a broader, nationwide uprising that forced Hasina to flee to India as the unrest peaked in early August.
The student group is finalizing plans to launch the new party during an event likely on Wednesday, said the sources who did not want to be named as they are not authorized to speak to the media.
Nahid Islam, a student leader and adviser to the interim government that took charge of Bangladesh after Hasina’s exit, is expected to lead the party as convener, the sources said.
Islam has been a key figure in advocating for student interests within the interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, which has been at the helm of Bangladesh since August 2024. He is expected to resign from his current role to focus on leading the new political party.
Islam did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Yunus has said that elections could be held by the end of 2025, and many political analysts believe that a youth-led party could significantly reshape the country’s political landscape. Yunus has said he was not interested in running.
Yunus’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the launch of the student-led political party.
The South Asian nation has been grappling with political unrest since Hasina left following weeks of protests during which more than 1,000 people were killed.
Officials from Hasina’s former government and security apparatus systematically committed serious human rights violations against the protesters during the uprising, the UN human rights commission said this month.
Hasina and her party deny any wrongdoing.


Ukrainian drone attack sparks fire at industrial site in Russia’s Ryazan region, governor says

Updated 23 min 42 sec ago
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Ukrainian drone attack sparks fire at industrial site in Russia’s Ryazan region, governor says

  • Ukrainian drones targeted the Ryazan oil refinery, which is owned by Rosneft

Falling debris from destroyed Ukrainian drones sparked a fire at an industrial enterprise in Russia’s Ryazan region, the governor of the region southeast of Moscow said on Monday.
“According to preliminary information, there were no injuries, material damage is being assessed,” Governor Pavel Malkov said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
Malkov did not say what enterprise was on fire. Baza, a news Telegram channel that is close to Russia’s security services, reported that Ukrainian drones targeted the Ryazan oil refinery, which is owned by Rosneft.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Reuters could not independently verify the Baza report. (Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Sonali Paul)


Philippines, Japan agree to further enhance defense partnership

Updated 24 February 2025
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Philippines, Japan agree to further enhance defense partnership

  • Japan, Philippines to enhance military exchanges and strategic dialogue
  • Security ties strengthened amid shared concerns over China’s regional actions

MANILA: Japan and the Philippines agreed on Monday to further deepen defense ties in the face of an “increasingly severe” security environment in the Indo-Pacific region, Japanese defense minister Gen Nakatani said on Monday.
Nakatani met his Philippine counterpart Gilberto Teodoro in Manila for a meeting in which the two ministers tackled regional security issues, including the maritime situation in the East and South China Seas.
“The security environment surrounding us is becoming increasingly severe and that it is necessary for the two countries as strategic partners to further enhance defense cooperation and collaboration to maintain peace and stability in Indo-Pacific,” Nakatani said through a translator.
Nakatani said the Philippines and Japan have agreed to deepen cooperation on military exchanges, establish a high-level strategic dialogue among its military and deepen information sharing.
Security ties between the two US allies have strengthened over the past two years as Japan and the Philippines share common concerns over China’s increasingly assertive actions in the region.
Last year, Manila and Tokyo signed a landmark military pact allowing the deployment of their forces on each other’s soil.
Japan and China have repeatedly faced off around uninhabited Japanese-administered islands that Tokyo calls the Senkaku and Beijing calls the Diaoyu.
The Philippines and China have also clashed frequently in the South China Sea around disputed shoals and atolls that fall inside Manila’s exclusive economic zone.
Nakatani visited military bases in the northern Philippines on Sunday, including a naval station that houses a coastal radar that Japan donated as part of its 600 million yen ($4 million) security assistance in 2023.
Manila was one of the first recipients of Tokyo’s official security assistance, a program aimed at helping boost deterrence capabilities of partner countries.
In December, the two countries signed a second security deal in which Japan agreed to provide the Philippine navy rigid hull inflatable boats (RHIB) and additional coastal radar systems.


US pressures Ukraine to nix its UN resolution demanding Russian forces withdraw

Updated 24 February 2025
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US pressures Ukraine to nix its UN resolution demanding Russian forces withdraw

  • But Kyiv refused to pull its draft resolution, and the UN General Assembly will vote on it Monday
  • Trump administration is seeking a vote on its proposal in the more powerful UN Security Council

UNITED NATIONS: The US has pressured Ukraine to withdraw its European-backed UN resolution demanding an immediate withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine in favor of an American proposal that does not mention Moscow’s invasion, a US official and a European diplomat said Sunday.
But Ukraine refused to pull its draft resolution, and the UN General Assembly will vote on it Monday, the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, two European diplomats said.
The 193-nation General Assembly then is expected to vote on the US draft resolution, according to the diplomats and the US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because private negotiations are still ongoing.
The Trump administration is also seeking a vote on its proposal in the more powerful UN Security Council. China, which holds the Security Council presidency this month, scheduled a vote on the US resolution for Monday afternoon.
The dueling resolutions – the first since the invasion – highlight the tension between the US, Ukraine and European countries in the five weeks since President Donald Trump took office and has opened talks with Russia after years of isolation in a bid to end the war. European leaders were dismayed that they and Ukraine were left out of preliminary negotiations between the US and Russia last week.
The General Assembly has become the most important UN body on Ukraine because the Security Council, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security, has been paralyzed by Russia’s veto power.
There are no vetoes in the General Assembly, and its votes are closely watched as a barometer of world opinion. However, its resolutions are not legally binding, unlike those adopted by the Security Council.
Since Russian forces crossed Ukraine’s border on Feb. 24, 2022, the assembly has adopted half a dozen resolutions condemning the war and demanding the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops.
The assembly votes have shown strong global opposition to Russia’s conflict, and the votes on the rival resolutions Monday will be closely watched to see if that support has waned – and to assess support for Trump’s effort to bring a speedy end to the war.
One European diplomat said there has been intense lobbying and arm-twisting on the rival resolutions. The US official said the US is trying to get Ukraine and the Europeans to back down on their draft. It comes as Trump plans to host French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday in Washington.
The United States believes “this is the moment to commit to ending the war. This is our opportunity to build real momentum toward peace,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement late Friday.
He said that “while challenges may arise, the goal of lasting peace remains achievable” and that the resolution would “affirm that this conflict is awful, that the UN can help end it, and that peace is possible.”
The Ukraine resolution, co-sponsored by the 27-nation European Union, refers to “the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation” and recalls the need to implement all previous assembly resolutions “adopted in response to the aggression against Ukraine.”
It singles out the General Assembly’s demand that Russia “immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders” and its demand to immediately halt all hostilities.
And it calls for “a de-escalation, an early cessation of hostilities and a peaceful resolution of the war against Ukraine.”
The very brief US draft resolution acknowledges “the tragic loss of life throughout the Russia-Ukraine conflict” and “implores a swift end to the conflict and further urges a lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia.” It never mentions Moscow’s invasion.
Russia’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, told reporters last week that the US resolution was “a good move.”
Russia also suggested an amendment, seeking to add the phrase “including by addressing its root causes” so the final line of the US resolution reads, “implores a swift end to the conflict, including by addressing its root causes, and further urges a lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia.”