A Pakistani housewife is set to make history by becoming the first woman to run for election in the country's Taliban-dominated tribal belt.

It will be a tough campaign for 53-year-old Badam Zari, who is standing in one of the most conservative and remote parts of Pakistan - where women usually wear a full veil and few read and write, let alone vote.

The Pakistani Taliban - which is based primarily in the country's north-western tribal areas - is warning people not to participate in the poll and has threatened many candidates.

It wants to impose a strict version of Islamic law on Pakistan.

To women, this means very little education or encouragement to join the economy and work outside their family homes.



Badam Zari will be the first woman to run for Parliament from the country's federally administered tribal areas.

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As a woman who is illiterate, she is passionate about educating the future generation of women in tribal areas.

But she says she does not expect to win.

While prominent female politicians are nothing new in Pakistan - it had the late Benazir Bhutto as prime minister and its foreign minister is also a woman - female candidates outside the major cities and the two main parties are extremely rare.

Mustafa Qadri, an analyst from Amnesty International, says women's rights are restricted in tribal areas.

"The thought that there is a woman who is contesting elections is a really positive step," he said.

But he says Badam Zari is likely to be targeted by the Taliban.

"Being in politics, whether as a politician or as a citizen, is literally a dangerous business in the north-west of Pakistan," he said.

"The Taliban recently [said] they will target those contesting elections. They will even target voters.

"They oppose the democratic process. They see it as un-Islamic.

"And we've seen one of the major parties of that region, the Awami National Party, has had many of its activists killed."

Despite Pakistan heading to an historic election where for the first time there will be a peaceful transition between civilian governments, the mood in the country is still not good.

People are scared about violence and pessimistic about their economic future.

"We never had any tension about money, food or anything else," a local said.

"But in the past five years the situation has become so bad that we cannot even pay the rent of our house.

"These past five years have ruined us."