The Hindu : International : Afghan women urged to contest polls

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 09, 2005

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International

Afghan women urged to contest polls

PUTRAJAYA (MALAYSIA): An Afghanistan Minister on Sunday urged women in her country to participate in this year's national election in big numbers, saying it finally gives them a chance to determine their destiny after years of repression under conservative regimes including the Taliban. The September 18 parliamentary and provincial assembly polls could be a turning point for Afghan women, shackled by poverty, physical abuse, forced marriages, illiteracy and sickness, Afghanistan's Minister of Women Affairs, Masooda Jalal, said in an interview with the Associated Press. ``I want the women of Afghanistan to participate actively as voters and candidates,'' Ms. Jalal said on the margins of a Ministerial meeting of the 116-member Non-aligned Movement on helping women face the challenges of globalisation. ``I want hundreds, even thousands of women in Afghanistan to come up with registration forms for being candidates, and I want millions to take part as voters,'' said Ms. Jalal, a former U.N. worker. ``I want the women of Afghanistan to be awakened and alive politically and to determine their destiny by their own hand''. Nominations opened April 30 for Afghanistan's parliamentary elections, which follows last year's adoption of a new constitution and a landmark vote for President, completing the democratic transition mapped by Afghan and international leaders after U.S. forces ousted the hardline Taliban Government in 2001.

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