Tribesmen Threaten Women Who Vote

Men in the rugged tribal regions of Pakistan vowed Saturday to burn down the homes of women who voted in February’s general elections.

A new law enables men and women over the age of 20 in the region to vote for the first time. Previously, a tribal council selected representatives to the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament.

Tribesmen have tried to stop women’s groups from registering the women in the tribal belt, the conservative region bordering Afghanistan. They threaten to destroy their homes and impose fines of up to $12,000.

“We can’t allow women to vote because it will create certain disorders and allow unwanted evils to enter our areas,” Mulana Abdul Hadi said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Hadi is chief of an Alliance of Clerics, a group created 10 years ago to fight drug trafficking. It has created a strict Islamic code of behavior which is not legally binding and only partially observed.

Hadi said his group decided Saturday that men could vote on behalf of women “because the women will certainly support them.”

Political authorities in the region say they will give women protection at the polling station.