Leading up to Pakistan’s parliamentary elections on May the 11th, the UK Guardian paper published a story under the headline, “Pakistan Women Face Battle for the Right to Vote” that discussed how letters have been circulated in regions of the country warning men not to allow their wives, sisters and daughters out to polling stations. Around the same time, the Associated Press produced an article regarding how in the small village of Mateela, its men had got together with other nearby communities and decided that their womenfolk would not vote in these parliamentary elections.
Expectedly, there was outrage expressed by some in response to these stories, focussed primarily on the point that these actions that deprived women of the right to engage in the democratic electoral process were curbing women’s political voice. However, the question was never asked by the mainstream media as to the actual political influence that the votes of Pakistan’s women (and indeed even its men) wield in these parliamentary elections to create a brighter future for the country. For regardless of the votes which are cast, under Pakistan’s corrupt democratic system, the politics of the state will continue to be dominated by a class of political elite and feudal families who use elections to simply rubber stamp the continuation of their political dynasties, and who make self-serving laws and use their positions to amass personal fortunes from the wealth of the people rather than sincerely looking after the needs of their citizens. And regardless of which political party gains prominence in these elections – whether it be the PPP, the PML, or PTI – they hold no real solutions to the host of political, economic, educational, social, legal, and security problems that women face in Pakistan. For example, Al-Jazeera ran a news piece on May 7th that discussed how despite regular campaign promises to improve the pitiful state of girls’ education in the country, Pakistan’s main political parties had failed to deliver and none of them had come up with a plan to implement those promises.
This vacuum of solutions to problems is hardly surprising as all these parties embrace the flawed and intellectually bankrupt democratic system where human beings rather than the Creator of the Universe make the laws – a system that has a proven legacy in Pakistan and across the world in being clueless in how to solve the problems of women. It was this democratic system in Pakistan that enabled political power to be concentrated in the hands of corrupt, incompetent rulers and self-serving landowners who in imitation of dictatorships have pursued a policy of abducting, arresting, imprisoning, and torturing those who oppose their oppression and corruption, including the sincere members of Hizb ut Tahrir, rendering as meaningless the political rights of ordinary women in Pakistan. It is this democratic system that has implemented the debt-generating interest-based economic system and other financially crippling capitalist policies including harsh taxes and the privatisation of the state’s vital resources. All this has subjected Pakistan’s women to extortionate food, gas and commodity prices; exposed them to electricity shortages; caused billions to be spent on debt-servicing rather than education and healthcare; and concentrated wealth in the hands of the few while impoverishing the masses such that today almost half of the population live in poverty (according to the UNDP Human Development Report 2013). And it is under this democratic system that Pakistan’s women have continued to be exposed to unacceptable levels of sexual harassment, rape, forced marriages, acid attacks, honour killings and other violations of their dignity and wellbeing.
It is clear that under Pakistan’s democratic system, the votes of its women (and indeed its men) in these elections are simply ink on paper and will not translate into creating real positive change within the country. Indeed, the call for women’s rights has only ever been an electioneering tool of Pakistan’s secular parties to secure power. Creating real change for the women of Pakistan and across the Muslim world requires us as Muslim women to look beyond meaningless elections and outside the current systems in our Muslim lands. It necessitates the establishment of the Khilafah state, built solely upon the Laws of Allah (swt), Who through His limitless Mercy and Knowledge has laid down a comprehensive blueprint within the Quran and the Sunnah of how to organise a state and solve the problems of women and men alike in a manner to establish harmony, security, prosperity, and justice for all. It is this vision of the Khilafah that Hizb ut Tahrir works for, but not with vague policies and proposals but rather with extensive and detailed solutions to the Ummah’s problems, all based upon Islamic evidences. For example, with regards to education of girls, the party has not only mandated that providing a good level of education to women is an obligation of the state but it has defined detailed policies to establish a first-class education system to achieve this, including how to ensure effective training of teachers, adequate funding, accelerate scientific and technological research and advancement, and ensure a curriculum and method of teaching that nurtures strong Islamic personalities, enlightened thinkers, and students who pursue knowledge for the sake of reward and contributing effectively to society rather than simply to secure employment and personal economic gain.
While it is indisputable that Islam gave women the right to select their ruler and representatives 1400 years ago, it is also unequivocal that engaging in the democratic process of electing MP’s and presidents who govern by their own laws rather than those of Allah (swt) is forbidden in Islam, for He (swt) says,
إِنِ الْحُكْمُ إِلَّا لِلَّهِ
“Indeed, the rule is only for Allah.”
(Yusuf, 12:40)
But furthermore, for those who truly value the political voice and activism of Muslim women, it is not to the ballot box of futile parliamentary elections that they should be directing them but rather to creating real political change through working with their full efforts for the establishment of the Khilafah.
Dr. Nazreen Nawaz
Member of The Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir