Double standard of religious parties exposed, says PTI leader

TIMERGARA: The would-be youngest woman lawmaker from Lower Dir and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Dr Sumeera Shams on Saturday said the double standard of religious parties in the district had exposed as they were active to bring their women voters to polling stations, which they had been opposing in the past.

Dr Sumeera Shams would become the youngest woman lawmaker of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on PTI quota reserved for women.

Talking to The News at her residence, the PTI woman leader said the right wing parties in Dir had been opposing women enfranchisement since long just for the sake of their personal advantage.

"The credit goes to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), which declared participation of 10 percent women must in election besides the role of social activists and media in Dir which highlighted the issue,” she said.

The so-called champions of Islam and Pakhtuns were busy wooing women voters while throwing away the self-imposed values and traditions just for the sake of own advantages, she added.

Dr Shams said the women of Dir had got the talent to serve the nation if provided with opportunities.

“My sister Naureena Shams, who is a sportswoman, is currently abroad in connection with squash matches," Dr Sumeera Shams said, adding her sister Naureena Shams had received many international awards and she has been a squash champion.

“My second sister Saira Shams, who is also a disabled person and member district council, is a social activist and she played great role in highlighting the issue of women disenfranchisement in Dir.

Besides, my mother was currently running a construction company in Dir,” she added.

She said that she started politics as a student in Jinnah Medical College Peshawar in 2009 as a founder member of Insaf Students Federation (ISF). "Convincing female students to join politics was a difficult task," Dr Sumeera Shams added. “In 2014, I became youth minister for women and social welfare in National Youth Assembly (NYA). Later I was promoted as youth speaker of NYA,” she said.