No Christian candidate in the PML-N election force

Minority wing leader says they were told to wait till next general elections

ISLAMABAD: The award of tickets by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on reserved seats for minorities in the National Assembly has stirred the Christian community in its belt.

PML-N Minority Wing-Islamabad President Manzoor Masih told The Express Tribune that “This time [general elections 2018], the party has given more priority to Hindu community and has completely ignored Christian community which is obviously sheer discrimination.”

Masih, who has been affiliated with PML-N for the last 27 years, had made all-out efforts to make his community's voice heard by the senior leadership of the party, "but failed to convince them".

“I along with few other members from the party belonging to the Christian community applied for party tickets for contesting the polls, but did not get any success and all we got to hear was, ‘be patient and wait till next general elections’,” he added.



This year PML-N has put the name of three party contestants belonging to the Hindu community on the priority list, which shows that it has been done intentionally by the political party, said Masih.

In addition to this, the ratio made by the party is out of every 25 seats won, one will be awarded to the minority group member.

“It is a fact that the Christian population is higher than any other minority groups in the country. But unfortunately, most of them [Christian community] is living below the poverty line in slums.”



Moreover, they are facing immense issues and deprived of the right to education, health, jobs among others, the president laments.

Their lives are at stake especially because of the blasphemy law, which is mostly being used against them, he alleged.

He further said that since 2002, PML-N mostly distributed party tickets to Christian contestants in big cities of Punjab like Faisalabad and Lahore and always ignored others willing to contest election from other cities like Rawalpindi, Islamabad, and Sialkot, among others.

“There is a need to have a representation of Christians in the parliament who could talk about their many issues, rights and security,” he said.



However, despite being ignored and unheard, the Christian party members of the party are fully supporting their party and running campaigns for ticket holders.