ISLAMABAD: Former senator Farhatullah Babar has called for the immediate operationalisation of the National Commission for Minorities and sweeping reforms in the allocation of reserved legislative seats.
‘Sweeping reforms of the selection process for reserved legislative seats is the urgent need to prevent political parties from monopolising representation,’ the politician-cum-human rights activist said while speaking at a civil society event on Sunday.
Highlighting gaps in electoral inclusivity, the veteran lawmaker raised concerns over the disenfranchisement of nearly 10 million Pakistani women, including minority women, who remain excluded from the democratic process due to a lack of national identity cards.
He called for concerted national efforts to ensure their registration and political participation. He also stressed the need to make the already established minority commission fully functional so it could effectively fulfil its mandate.
Former Executive Director of the Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services (Pips) Zafarullah Khan said the joint electorate had been achieved through a sustained struggle and was never handed to minorities as a gift.He said citizens could challenge and overturn unfavourable decisions when they joined hands with clarity of thought and purpose.
Human rights activist Nabila Feroz Bhatti said restoration of the joint electorate had increasedboththefrequency and qualityof minority women’s representation in Parliament. She cited Senator Roshan Bhaucha, Senator Krishna Kumari Kohli, Asia Nasir and Shahneela Ruth as examples, along with women elected to provincial assemblies.
Peter Jacob, executive director of the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), said the number of minority representatives had increased beyond reserved seats under the joint electorate system, including on general and women’s seats. He also called for the removal of discriminatory constitutional provisions that undermined equal citizenship.
Earlier, CSJ screened its 20-minute documentary, A Separation Refused, which traces the introduction ofthe separate electorate system in 1979 and the campaign for its restoration, particularly during the 1990s and until 2001.
Based on historical accounts and more than a dozen interviews, the documentary examines the roles of political leaders, civil society figures, faith-community representatives and human rights activists in the strugglefor ajoint electorate.