Report in Dawn, February 27th, 2023
PESHAWAR: Members of the minority communities demonstrated here on Sunday to demand right to directly elect their representatives to the assemblies.
The protesters, who gathered outside the Peshawar Press Club, were led by office-bearers of Minorities Alliance of Pakistan (MAP).
The protest leaders said they did not expect any good from their MPAs and MNAs as they were sent to assemblies on reserved seats, and thus didn’t have to be answerable to people.
On the occasion, the alliance’s leader Gulfam Bhatti said the minority communities were facing numerous problems mainly due to negligence of their own elected representatives.
He said the minorities were not allowed to elect their MNAs and MPAs directly as they were picked by the political parties.
He said the complicated electoral system in the country was posing threat to the rights of minority communities as they were yet to get voting rights to elect their own representatives to the assemblies through direct election.
The representatives of minorities, he said were sent to assemblies on pick and choose basis, and thus they were unable to raise voice for the rights of their communities in a befitting manner. He said the groups representing minorities were unable to make legislation for themselves and depended only on the political parties.
Mr Bhatti said minorities felt isolated due to the indifferent attitude of the political parties. Besides, he said the representatives on reserved seats were not accountable to anyone and thus they used to mint money only.
“It is necessary to provide the non-Muslims with voting rights so they could send their genuine representatives to the national and provincial assemblies directly through election so they can pay proper attention to our issues,” he said.
He said the government should consider delimitation of the areas where the minorities were not properly registered during the previous census.
He also demanded five per cent increase in job quota for minorities. https://www.dawn.com/news/1739346/minorities-seek-end-to-reserved-seats-in-assemblies
