Malala Yousafzai Urges Women to Vote in Pakistan

On Tuesday, Malala Yousafzai, a Nobel Laureate and education activist, urged the women of Pakistan to vote in the general elections. She tweeted, telling Pakistanis to get up and exercise their right to vote. The 21-year-old Pakistani national did not say whether she voted.

In 2012, Malala was shot in the shoulder, head, and neck by a Taliban militant, while traveling home from school. She was shot after writing an anonymous diary about life under the extremists. She and her family relocated to Birmingham, UK, after recovering from her near-fatal injuries. She is studying philosophy, politics, and economics at Lady Margaret Hall in Oxford.

The army interference is just not taking place only in the general elections of Pakistan but persists in public life as well. The press has been silenced and the jury has been made compliant. The terrorists and extremists have been allowed to contest the election. Education in Pakistan is based only on pro-Pakistan texts.

On Wednesday, an estimated number of voters (105.95 million) headed to poll across the country, analysts said that democracy is at stake in Pakistan. The majority of the people predicted a win for the anti-corruption crusader, Imran Khan’s Pakistan, Tehreek-e-Insaf party.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), has directed its polling staff to provide proper assistance and guidance to voters, especially pregnant women, transgender and the elderly on polling day. This is because a serious effort has been made to reduce the gender gap in voter registration system. Areas with low proportions of registered women voters are specially targeted by the EPC, government institutions, and civil society organizations.