Christian group wants elections to reserved minority seats

The Christian Progressive Movement (CPM) in the country demanded a separate electoral system solely for minorities to elect their representatives. They also condemned that the selection of representatives in the assemblies must not stay on reserved seats.

The CPM conducted a seminar titled 'Why the Nomination of Representatives of Minorities' at Lahore Press Club last week, which was attended by many among whom were the CPM chairwoman Naila J Dyal, Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz (PML–N) activist Naseer Ahmad Bhutta, Justice (r) Fakhrunnisa Khokhar, Professor Salamat Akhtar, Matloob Ahmad Warraich, Nisar Khokhar and CPM activists.

Dyal during the seminar said, President Pervez Musharraf should appoint an advicer to represent minorities and to consider the minorites rights. Christian representatives should be taken from grassroots and not from the church, she added.

She also demanded that the government increase the number of seats for minorities in all assemblies.

Daily Times Pakistan quoted Bhutta saying, "The joint electoral system introduced in 2002 was meant to suppress the minorities. "

He added that, the minorities’ representatives elected through the separate electoral system were aware of their people’s problems and the constitution only advocated the electoral system and not selection.

Other speakers during the event said the 1973 Constitution guaranteed equal rights for minorities. They demanded the government announce minorities’ representation in the Senate.

Pakistan has a population of 162 million, of which 96.1% are Muslim. Christians account for 1.5% of the population, or about 2.4 million people forming a minority. Of these, 1,288,000 are Catholics, according to the sources cited in the Demographics of Pakistan.