Two Women File to Run for Office in NW Pakistan

The first in their tribal communities

ISLAMABAD: Two women from Pakistan's restive northwest have made history by becoming the first tribal women to file nomination papers for the May 11 parliamentary polls.

Forty-year-old Badam Zari filed nomination papers for a National Assembly constituency in the restive Bajaur tribal region yesterday while Nusrat Begum plans to contest elections from Lower Dir, a tribal district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

While an increasing number of women are taking part in politics in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, it is almost unheard of for women to be part of electioneering in the conservative tribal belt, where several militant groups are active.