Pakistani Minorities should be given the right to elect their representatives through their own votes. By .Dr .Emanuel Adil Ghouri

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The undemocratic electoral system for reserved seats for minorities in the national and provincial assemblies negates their democratic rights. Before 2002, minorities had the right to elect their representatives through their own votes. Although there were many problems in the electoral process that required attention  this system could have been continued if they had been resolved. 
General Pervez Musharraf's government introduced a modified form of proportional representation in 2002 to elect members to seats reserved for women and technocrats in the national and provincial assemblies and the Senate. Specifically, the following changes were made as part of the 2002 Legal Framework Order (LFO): Reserved seats: The number of seats in the National Assembly was increased, including 60 for women and 10 for non-Muslims. This Legal Framework Order increased the number of seats for women but did not increase minority seats despite the promise rather, the right of minorities to democratically elect their representatives through their own votes was taken away and the power to nominate for their reserved seats was given to the majority political parties which could nominate representatives for minority seats according to their numbers in parliament. In this way, the power to elect representatives for 10 million minorities was entrusted to a few members of political parties, which is completely contrary to democratic principles. 
Some critics argue that this process is a "selection" of parties rather than a "selection" of the minority community, since minority voters do not directly vote for these representatives. These reserved seats are often filled by individuals who are neither qualified nor representative of their perceived voters. Due to this system  we have seen many people nominated for the national and provincial assemblies who do not even have the ability to win the councilor election from their area and we have also seen many MNAs and MPAs who were nominated more than once and went to the assembly but did not participate in any kind of legislation to solve the problems of their communities due to this system, we have seen many people nominated for the national and provincial assemblies who do not even have the ability to win the councilor election from their area, and we have also seen many MNAs and MPAs who were nominated more than once and went to the assembly but did not participate in any kind of legislation to solve the problems of their communities Due to which many problems of minorities could not be solved. Whatever the purpose of implementing the current system, it has caused political losses to minorities. 
This system has made minorities political slaves instead of giving them political consciousness. People who get nominated under this system are loyal to their party  not their communities.The impression was given in this system that this would provide dual representation to minorities, they would have reserved seats in parliament and they would also be able to contest elections on general seats, but this experiment has failed miserably because democracy here is biased. 
There is a lack of openness and acceptance for people of other religions here. We try to copy countries like Europe, America, and Britain  but we do not adopt their thinking. 
Although all political parties seek decisive votes from minorities for the success of their candidates, they are wary of fielding a minority candidate on a general seat .If the principle of proportional representation is to be adopted, then these parties should issue five percent of their election tickets to minority candidates for general seats. In many constituencies of Punjab province, the number of Christian voters is between 50,000 and 55,000, but despite this, Christian candidates are not given tickets for general seats in these constituencies.Which is undoubtedly clear evidence of the narrow-mindedness of political parties and an admission that the majority of the people cannot elect their representative by voting for a non-Muslim 
Below I am presenting an excerpt from a fatwa by Allama Muhammad Yousuf: Vote should be given to a candidate who himself has the required qualifications and capabilities, whose party manifesto is also correct, and about whom there is satisfaction that he can take better steps for the people of the locality in religious and worldly terms and since the non-Muslim candidate does not meet these conditions; therefore, it is better to vote for a Muslim candidate in his competition. Only by Allah, He knows best Fatwa Number: 143909201460 Darul Ifta: Jamia Uloom Islamia Allama Muhammad Yousuf Banuri Town 
This fatwa reflects why political parties are hesitant to issue tickets to minority candidates on general seats. 
In the context of the situation to give minorities real democratic rights, it is necessary to give them the right to elect their representatives through their own votes. In this regard, for a long time, Christian nationalist parties have been protesting on the streets, holding press conferences, seminars, protest meetings, and rallies, but the government is not paying any attention to them Now this demand has gained more strength because now the selected representatives sitting in parliament who are benefiting from this system also recognize that for real representation it is necessary that minorities be given the right to elect their representatives with their own votes.A few months ago, Christian members of the Punjab Assembly, Baba Philbous  Christopher and Tariq Gul, made this demand while speaking on the floor of the assembly. Earlier, Member of the National Assembly, Aamir Naveed Jeeva, had also made this demand. Recently, Senator Khalil Tahir Sindhu, while speaking in the Senate, supported this demand. 
I would like to respectfully request the Senator that this is a constitutional issue and the country is undergoing a period of constitutional amendments. You played a prominent role in drafting and presenting the 27th Constitutional Amendment that was presented recently How beautiful it would have been if you had included your speech demand in this constitutional amendment. The work that nationalist Christian organizations could not do in 20 years would have been accomplished by you, and your name would have been written in golden letters in the political history of Christians. 
You still have a chance, the echoes of the 28th Amendment are also being heard. If you are sincere in your demand, then start a series of meetings with your leadership along with other Christian leaders to get your demand included in this amendment and convince them to do so.In my opinion, there is no more influential minority politician in Pakistan than you at this time. I hope that you will start a serious effort on this and give the minorities the promise of approving this demand in the 28th Constitutional Amendment. 

 

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