Minorities and elections
The“Religious Minorities in Pakistan’s Elections” report suggests electoral reforms to improve
the political status of minorities
By Waqar Gillani
One in every 26
Pakistanis believes in a religion other than Islam but still these groups,
called as minorities in Pakistan, are struggling for their political and
electoral rights. These marginalised religious groups have been
continuously jumping from separate to joint electorate system for the past
six decades. The state still seems not serious in giving due and unbiased
political representation to these groups which include Christians, Hindus,
Sikhs, Parsis, and others. After 1974, this category also includes Ahmadia
community.
A recent report
“Religious Minorities in Pakistan’s Elections”, which includes
history, views of community leaders and statistical assessments of their
present electoral significance, has minutely discussed the electoral
rights of these groups and suggested to improve their political status
through either increase in the reserved seats or giving them double-vote
right to safeguard their political and electoral identity in the country.
The report, initiated by Church World Service, an international
Non-government Organization, has judged the ‘electoral significance’
of non-Muslims.
According to the
statistics, compiled in the report, out of every 1,000 Pakistani, 963 are
Muslims; 16 Christians; 16 Hindus (Jati); 3 Scheduled Castes; 2 Qadianis/Ahmadis
and 1 believes in a religion other than these. 
The study is a guide for
the political parties to know about the numerical strengths of non-Muslims
as a potential electoral capital that they can tap into and mobilise for
electoral gains. Such reports can result into mainstreaming of
non-Muslims, as opposed to marginalisation, into the body politics of
Pakistan.
Historically, the
participation of non-Muslims in Pakistan’s elections have also some
roots in the pre-Partition Hindu-Muslim political tussles while others
aspects came up into the discourse by later religious enthusiasts.
The debate on whether
Pakistan shall separate electors on the basis of religion started
immediately after the adoption of Objectives Resolution by the Constituent
Assembly in March 1949. The supporters of the Resolution insisted that
separating electorate was mandatory to align the governance system with
Islam. The main opposition to it came from Bengali nationalists who were
at loggerheads with the ruling elite of the new country on many power
sharing issues. They considered separate electorate as yet another attempt
by the central government to weaken them by dividing their political
support base along religious lines. In 1952, it was incorporated with a
number of “Islamic” provisions making it mandatory that only a Muslim
can be the head of the state.
Later, General Ayub Khan
appointed a Constitution Commission in February 1960 to inquire into the
failure of the parliamentary democracy in the country. The commission also
sought opinions from all stakeholders on a questionnaire that included
queries on the issue of separate and joint electorate as well. The
commission’s report, published in April 1961, found that “the demand
for a joint electorate, by the minorities in East Pakistan ... is not
natural” as it thought “one would normally expect the minorities,
especially in a country where people are basically religious, to ask for
separate electorate”.
During the period when
the 1973 constitution was being framed, the issue of joint or separate
electorate did not arise. It seemed that with the secession of East
Pakistan, which became Bangladesh in 1971, the issue lost its context.
Non-Muslims were now less than five per cent of Pakistan’s population
and less than half of these were Hindus. The general elections of 1985,
1988, 1990, 1993 and 1997 were thus held under separate electorate. The
opponents of this system blamed it for throwing non-Muslim minorities out
of the political mainstream and isolating them from the rest of the
society.
The separate electorate
system was abandoned in 2002. The seats for non-Muslims were also reserved
in the elected houses. These seats were now allotted to political parties
proportionate to their share in general seats and filled through the party
list system. Ten seats are reserved for non-Muslim communities in National
Assembly, eight in Punjab Assembly, nine in Sindh Assembly and three each
in the other two provincial legislatures. According to the new system,
members on the reserved seats are not elected through any kind of voting
process. Instead, the parties are required to submit, at the time of the
nomination of candidates on general seats, a list of their nominees for
the reserved seats. The parties are also asked to prioritise their
nominees.
A Pakistan People’s
party loyalist Dr Jaipal Chabbriya, who is an eye specialist working in a
Karachi hospital, says, “Non-Muslims are represented now everywhere in
assemblies, in ministries, and thanks to the 18th Amendment in Senate as
well. But there is still a lot to be done to end discrimination.” He
points to the constitutional bar on non-Muslims for higher offices, such
as president and prime minister etc. He longs to see the day when Muslims
are able to vote for non- Muslim candidates and vice versa.
Interestingly, the
minority community views are heavily tilted in favour of joint electorate.
Everyone is appreciative of the change including those who contested
elections under the separate electorate system and were elected members of
various assemblies. People easily identify the benefits of the joint
electorate system as it integrates Muslims and non-Muslims making us one
nation.
The CWS report, also
based on more than 80 interviews of minority group prominent
personalities, suggests that non-Muslims should be awarded dual franchise.
They should be given two ballot papers. They should cast one vote to a
general seat candidate and the second to a member of their own community.
This way they would remain integrated with the mainstream polity and be
true representatives of their communities.
Khalil Tahir Sindhu, a
PML-N member of the Punjab Assembly, says he can only dream of becoming a
member of the Punjab Assembly through direct elections. He says that
General Zia’s act of separating non-Muslims from the mainstream was a
disservice to the minorities. Khalil, however, is not satisfied with the
joint electorate system as being currently practiced. “I totally
disagree with this system.”
“Parties should be
legally bound to give non-Muslims a share in tickets,” views George
Clement, a seasoned politician. “Ending other forms of discrimination
will make the joint electorate system effective,” observes Peter Jacob,
political activist and a rights campaigner. He believes that separate
electorate was a scourge that worsened the lot of non-Muslims in Pakistan.
The study calls for
removing discriminatory laws to make joint electorate effective.
Non-Muslim women are the most marginalised of the minorities as they have
to bear double discrimination. The reserved seats members are supposed to
represent the views of their communities on issues presented in the
parliament, but they cannot be expected to represent the gender divide
within their community too.
It suggests that some of
the seats reserved for women should be shifted to those reserved for
non-Muslims. In this way, the number of women in parliament will not
decline and the number of non-Muslims will rise from 10 to 13 while
presence of non-Muslim women in the parliament will also be ensured.
