KARACHI: There exist women in Karachi – the most ‘modern’ city of Pakistan perhaps – who are still deprived of franchise: female residents of a neighbourhood in Mauripur are not allowed to obtain Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs).

Mauripur is a suburban area of the sprawling metropolis. A mixed population of Pathan, Baloch and Seraiki people resides in Jhaskani Muhalla near Grex Stop on Hawke’s Bay Road and adjoining areas.

Women here are not allowed to step out of their homes without a male family member. They are also not allowed to get their CNICs made, which deprives them of voting right.

These women, who say they are keen to bring about a change in the country, would not have been counted in the census had the primary requirement of the exercise to have a CNIC not been relaxed by the chief statistician of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

Standing at the gate of her residence, 20-year-old T* shares her ordeal. “I want to do a lot in my life,” she says. “But living in this part of the city, it is a dream to even avail the development programmes running in our area and learn something. Because we do not have CNICs, the programmes do not enrol us.”

‘55% women in Karachi face harassment’

T speaks about the reasons their male family members give to justify not letting the women obtain CNICs. According to her, the men do not allow them to get their pictures clicked, which is an essential requirement for the CNICs.

MORE:   https://tribune.com.pk/story/1346065/suffragettes-karachi-men-mauripur-dont-let-women-cnics/