Photo via islamicity.com

History made in Pakistan

In an historic move, the Senate of Pakistan will now, under the 18th Constitutional Amendment Act 2010, have four seats reserved for minorities -- one each from the provinces of Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, reports Dan Wooding, Founder of ASSIST Ministries.

This is for the very first time in the history of Pakistan that there will be representation of Pakistani religious minorities in the Upper House of the Parliament and this will take place in the forthcoming Senate elections (March 2012).

The minorities have been deprived of these “reserved” seats for more than 38 years but, on the other hand, seats were reserved for Muslims religious scholars, technocrats and women.

The 18th amendment in the Constitution of Pakistan 1973 has been a blessing for the minorities and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has restored the confidence of the minorities, including Christians, by this act because it would have been in the regime of late Zulifqar Ali Bhutto, a former Prime Minister of Pakistan, and the founder of Pakistan Peoples Party, who implemented the present constitution of Pakistan.

Chairman of Senate, Mr. Farooq H. Naek, Leader of the House in Senate, Mr. Syed Nayyar Hussain Bokhari, Mr. Akram Gill, Federal Minister for Interfaith Harmony, and senators belonging to the PPP and other political parties, as well as senior government officials were present on occasion.

A renowned Pakistani educationist and human rights activist, Professor Anjum James Paul, who is also Chairman of the Pakistan Minorities Teachers’ Association (PMTA) and Director of the SHADOW Organization, wrote a letter to Mr. Asif Ali Zardari, the President of Pakistan, on August 26, in which he said, “We, the Pakistani religious minorities, highly appreciate and thank you for signing the amendment in the Senate (Election) Rules 1975, in compliance with provision in 18th Constitutional Amendment to reserve four seats for non-Muslims in the Upper House of Parliament -- one for each province.”

He further wrote, “On this occasion, we remember our martyrs -- Ms. Benazir Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan, and Shahbaz Bhatti, former Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs (both murdered) -- who had always supported the cause of marginalized communities of Pakistan and gave their lives for this cause.

“We salute our martyrs and the government of Pakistan Peoples Party which has somehow addressed the wounds of the minorities.”

In the last words of the letter, he added, “It is a humble request of minorities to increase the number of reserved seats in the national assembly of Pakistan as well because they have not been increased for a long time. We also request you to abolish all discriminatory articles and laws so that all Pakistanis may enjoy equal rights and glorify this nation in the comity of nations.”

Note: The state religion in Pakistan is Islam, which is practiced by about 95-98% of the 187,343,000 people of the nation. The remaining 2-5% practice Christianity, Hinduism and other religions. Muslims are divided into two major sects: the majority of them practice Sunni Islam, while the Shias are a minority who make up an estimated 5-20%, depending on the source.

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TAGS: Pakistan Constitutional Amendment Act representation religious minorities Upper House of the Parliament

[08/29/2011]

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