Minorities face disappointment

Govt says no to increase in reserved seats for non-Muslims till new census

ISLAMABAD: For over five million Pakistanis belonging to minority communities, a serious setback came on Tuesday when the government rejected proposals to increase their reserved seats in parliament.

The government, explaining why it could not increase minorities’ representation in the National Assembly, the Senate as well as in the Provincial Assemblies, said this was not possible until a fresh population census is conducted. “We cannot approve legislation seeking increase in reserved quota for non-Muslims until a fresh census list is successfully published in all provinces,” said a Law Ministry representative, talking to the lawmakers in a Standing Committee on Government Assurances. “Non-Muslims will have to wait for the official census. On the basis of that, we will pass legislation seeking increase in their [non-Muslims’] quota,” added the official.



According to information shared by NADRA, more than 2.8 million non-Muslims have CNICs. These include 1.4 million Hindus and 1.2 million Christians. PML-N government assured the lawmakers twice since it came into power, on the floor of the House, that it would present all bills seeking increase in representation of non-Muslims in parliament. However, it was never done. The previous government of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), through the 18th Constitutional Amendment, had enhanced seats for minority communities.

Chairman of the Standing Committee on Government Assurances, Afzal Khokhar, has not shown much interest in the matter after the law ministry officials rejected the legislation. These officials also informed members of the committee that the criterion for enhancement of seats has been given in clause (5) of Article 51 of the Constitution which states that seats in the National Assembly shall be allocated on the basis of population in accordance with the latest published census.

President Pervez Musharraf’s government, through the legal framework order 2002, omitted the distinction of Muslim members, and all seats were declared as general seats.

However, the 18th constitutional amendment says that there shall be 342 seats for members of the National Assembly including seats reserved for women and non-Muslims. Therefore, non-Muslims can contest elections on general seats as well.

Numerous private members’ bills are either pending with the law, justice and human rights committees of parliament or have been rejected. In these proposed bills, lawmakers have suggested amendments in the constitution, particularly in Articles 106 and 51, to pave the way for allocation of more seats for non-Muslims.

MNAs Ramesh Lal of PPP, Lal Chand Malhi of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Sanjay Perwani of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Ramesh Kumar, Bhagwan Das, Dr Darshan and Isphanyar Bhandara of PML-N were the movers of these bills which were tabled since the incumbent government came into power. Majority of these bills seek fresh delimitation of constituencies for elections.

If these are endorsed by parliament, reserved seats for non-Muslims would increase from 10 to 15 in the National Assembly and four to six in the Senate. This exercise will apply to all four provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan as well as Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

PPP MNA Ramesh Lal strongly reacted at the government’s decision to scrap the constitutional amendment bills seeking increase in reserved seats for non-Muslims. “We’ll continue our protest in parliament. It’s unfair and is discrimination against the minorities,” he told The Express Tribune.

Officials of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics told The Express Tribune that the Council of Common Interest is likely to discuss security issues that are the major stumbling block in the way of conducting fresh census in the country. The country has not witnessed a census since1998 due to this very reason, they added.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2014.