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Pakistani Christians divided on electoral reforms

Critics say return to old system will cause 'political marginalization and social exclusion of religious minorities'
Pakistani Christians divided on electoral reforms

A Pakistani voter casts her ballot at a polling station in Islamabad in this file image taken Nov. 30, 2015. A Christian member of the National Assembly of Pakistan has said there is no democracy for Pakistanis who are not Muslim. (Photo by Aamir Qureshi/AFP)

Published: May 31, 2017 08:20 AM GMT
Updated: May 31, 2017 08:20 AM GMT

Christian human rights groups in Pakistan are lobbying for electoral reforms but remain divided on voting for their candidates, ahead of the general elections in 2018.

The current state of proportional representation in Pakistan is unconstitutional and unlawful, according to a Christian lawmaker.

"There is no democracy for Pakistani non-Muslims," said Tariq Christopher Qaiser, one of 10 minority members of the National Assembly of Pakistan, during a convention organized by the Implementation Minority Rights Forum in Lahore, May 26.

"Selected candidates only represent their political parties, not their communities," Qaiser said. "I was against this system but had to become a part of it to work for Christ," he said.

Until 1999, non-Muslims in Pakistan, some 2.8 percent of the population, could register two votes on elections for general seats: one for a Muslim candidate and another for their own co-religionists to fill the few seats reserved for them in legislative assemblies.

The Catholic Church spearheaded nationwide campaigns against this direct or separate electorate system for minorities. The system was ultimately removed in 2002.

Now members of religious minorities have joined others in voting for local representation in the national and provincial assemblies.

however, the Muslim leadership of the mainstream political parties can select non-Muslim candidates by granting them tickets for reserved seats for minorities.

Saadia Sohail Rana, member of Punjab Assembly, agreed with Qasier by saying, "Minority representatives hesitate while speaking in the house. They are not treated as equals."

In its press statement, the minority rights forum called on the Supreme Court to make a raft of changes, including forming a three-member bench for responding to minority rights abuse, increasing their seats in national and provincial assemblies, and granting them the right of a dual vote.

 

Outside a polling station during Pakistan's local government elections in Rawalpindi in this file image taken on Dec. 5, 2015. (Photo by Farooq Naeem/AFP)

 

Christians in Pakistan have long complained of the absence of a political role by their assembly members.

"I have seen Christian majority areas deliberately left out of development. 'Go to your own ministers,' say the Muslims," Anjum James Paul, a Catholic professor, told ucanews.com.

In 2009, the Pakistan cabinet approved a 5 percent job quota in federal government services for Pakistani minorities. However only a 2.32 percent quote is implemented. "The seats are not advertised properly," Paul said.

There are currently five allocated minority senators (two of them Christians), eight for minority members in Punjab assembly, nine in Sindh province, two in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and three in Balochistan province.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, Christian voters amount to approximately 1.3 million of some 3 million minority votes in the country.

In 2002, the seats for women in national assembly were increased from 12 to 60, but seats for religious minorities remained at 10, the figure set in 1985.

Peter Jacob, former executive secretary of the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission, blames terrorism for the drop in media coverage of non-Muslim politicians. 

"The authorities are only concerned with safely organizing the Christian programs. They deliberately restrict media attention. The new Christian writers prefer to work only for English publications leaving a large section of society in the dark," he said speaking at a May 27 consultation meeting on effective political participation of religious minorities.

"The restoration of a separate electorate will cause political marginalization and social exclusion of religious minorities. This discriminatory system had been experimented with from 1985 to 1997 and it failed badly," said Jacob.

He said, more than half the seats in the 2001 local elections were either vacant or filled by unopposed candidates simply because religious minorities in Pakistan had boycotted them. Its return would mean the return of the separate electorate system, with its "detrimental effects to the national fabric and social cohesion," he said.

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