A woman who wants to do something for Chitral

chitraltoday.net report CHITRAL, April 4, 2013: Despite all difficulties, a young Chitrali woman has challenged experienced politicians and a former dictator of the country by filing nomination papers for the National Assembly seat of Chitral. Asma Mehmood, a lawyer by profession, is also the contender for the provincial assembly seat of lower Chitral (PK-89). She hails from a small village called Suoch of the Terich valley in upper Chitral and has two elder brothers and one younger sister. She lives in her joint family, including parents, in Haripur. She belongs to the Majay family of Chitral. Ms Asma was born and brought up in Haripur as her father Laghal Khan worked in the National Rural Telecommunication Company (NRTC) in that city. She did her Matric from the Telecom Girls School and graduation from the Government Degree College Haripur. She obtained the bachelor of law degree from the Ayub Law College in 2006 and since then has been practicing law in Hariour, Abbottabad and Peshawar. Talking to chitraltoday.net, Ms Asma said though she was born and brought up outside Chitral she had an urge to do something for the backward area of Chitral where her relatives still lived. She said every year she also visited her home village in the upper Chitral. When asked if language would be a problem for her in communicating with the people, especially women of upper Chitral, during the electioneering, she said it would not, as she understood the language well and was able to convey her message through. She said that politicians born and bred in Chitral had done nothing for the area and those who lived outside Chitral had more love for their area and could do something for the development of the area. She said she wanted to make her political career in Chitral and would also be practicing law in the district. It may be noted that Begum Sher Wali Khan of Yarkhun valley was the first Chitrali woman who contested the election for the National Assembly seat of Chitral in 1988. However, she obtained only 1,423 votes. In that year, Nusrat Bhutto from Larkana won the election by bagging 32,812 votes. In the 1993, Begum Suleman Khan of the PPP also took part in the election for the National assembly seat and polled 15,765 votes but could not win the seat. Ms Asma is the fourth woman to take part in the national election in Chitral. Her decision to join politics has been welcomed by many people of Chitral as it would be a catalyst for other educated women to play their role in the national development.