13pc women, 70pc men from minorities possess CNICs in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Almost 13 percent of women and 70 percent men of the minorities have computerised national identity cards in Peshawar city.

This was revealed in a study by SPARC, a non-governmental organisation.

According to a press release, the study was shared by Manager Program Development, Asiya Arif, at a seminar on minorities and electoral reforms on Thursday. The seminar was organised under SPARC’s project – Strengthening Diversity and Democracy through Minorities Engagement in Electoral and Political Processes.

The seminar was attended by Community Action Groups comprising of Christian men and women, FAFEN, lawyers, civil society activists, elected representatives and media persons.  Sharing the findings, Asiya Arif said out of 423 respondents interviewed in the Kohati Gate locality, 75 percent of the male participants had acquired birth certificates whereas only 10.27 percent of the females had their birth certificates.

She said with regard to voter registration, it was found that a sizeable majority of 86 percent from the Christian community was registered to vote with more men compared to women while 21.6 percent women were not registered to vote while 2.25 percent were unaware of their voting status.

Zahid Khattak from Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) said that Peshawar was one of the districts with lowest women voter registration against a population of 2100,719 women as of the 2017 census, only 663,192 are registered to cast votes.

He urged both men and women participants to get CNIC registration till April 2018 to be eligible to cast their votes in the 2018 elections. Speaking on the occasion, Arif Yusuf, advisor to chief minister, said that government wished to see more political participation of women in the upcoming elections.