ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Who says Pakistan bows down to Taliban and radical forces? Who says the KPK province is ruled by the Taliban mind-set and people of this province wish an Afghanistan sort of society to live in?

Whosoever makes these kinds of statements is not 100 percent correct, because under the tremendous pressure and life threats from the Taliban, Pakistan is standing stiff and committed to defeating them. The Taliban warns women in KPK that they will kill them if they do not withdraw from contesting elections. The Taliban in general has been threatening all political parties and people “not to participate” in the May 11 general elections.

There are 147 women are contesting for 10 KPK seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa against the will of the Taliban – a fair enough number to send a message to the world that the country is not ready to live as the Taliban wishes to tame it.

These 147 women are contesting the coming polls of 2013 in 105 constituencies, whereas 301 women are in the run for the 203 provincial assembly constituencies.

These Pakistani women are contesting polls for the general seats, out of which 90 women candidates are contesting elections in 66 constituencies in Punjab.

In Sindh, 37 women are in the run for 24 provincial assembly seats, 14 women for 10 KPK seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 3 women for 3 provincial assembly seats of Balochistan, 2 women for 1 Punjab Assembly seat in Islamabad, while a woman in Pakistan’s Federally Administrated Tribal Areas is contesting election for one FATA seat. This makes a total of 147 women for 105 seats.

As many as Pakistan’s 21 political parties have awarded 60 tickets to females, while 87 are Independent candidates.

In the country’s Punjab province, 169 women are running for 116 seats. In Sindh, 94 for 59 seats; in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, 27 for 20 seats; and in Balochistan 11 for 8 seats, for a total 301 for 203 seats.

A total of 31 political parties have given 111 tickets, while 190 women are vying for election as independent candidates.

In 2008, only 195 women contested elections and now 448 women are contesting elections in 2013 showing an increase of 129.8 percent and 153.2 percent over elections in 2002.

Similarly, in 2008, 25 women were elected for 15 national assembly seats and 10 Punjab assembly seats on general seats, out of them 18 women are contesting elections 2013 for 11 NA seats and 7 Punjab assembly seats.

In the National Assembly, 5 women are contesting from more than one constituency for Provincial Assembly seats, and 6 women are contesting from more than one constituency, while 16 women are contesting from both National and Provincial constituencies.

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