Electoral reforms should be inclusive rather than segregating: CSJ
Electoral reforms should be inclusive rather than segregating: CSJ: The speakers and participation of the consultation meeting on “effective political participation of religious minorities” which was being held under the banner of Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) said that any mode of choosing representation for religious minorities, that enhances discrimination on the basis of religion in the political system, will be undesirable, the speakers further emphasized inclusive policies and mainstreaming the marginalized sections.
The consultation was being led executive director CSJ Peter Jacob, the participants of the event included members of mainstream civil society and political, religious and social actors of different faith communities. At this moment the participants said that the existing mode of proportional representation system for minorities met the fundamental requirement of democratic participation, thus appropriate, instead of a dual vote or direct election on the reserved seats.
The participants repeatedly said that it was necessary for democratic dispensation as well as to promote democratic values and improving social harmony that a joint electorate system was implemented.
The speaker rebuked the need for the use of dual vote or direct vote for minorities. According to the speaker the prepositions would mean return of the separate electorate system. The speakers added that the direct or separate electorate system for minorities had been experimented in 1985 and 1997 and had failed badly and had caused political marginalization and social exclusion for the religious minorities. The speakers added that the discriminatory system on the basis of religion was removed in 2002 on the demand from minorities.
The participants made the following points for the electoral reform bill 2017 for the minorities.
1) The reserved seats for minorities should be filled with an eligibility criteria and larger participatory process through intra-party elections rather than chosen by a committee of few.
2) The reserved seats for minorities in the National and Provincial Assemblies have seen no increase since 1985, therefore these must be enhanced in spirit of affirmative action and allocation should consider a guaranteed representation of smaller communities such as Sikhs, Kalash.
3) More categories of reserved seats such as, persons with disability, peasants and labourers should be added to give voice to these marginalized sections of society.
4) Concrete steps should be taken to remove discriminations in other spheres such as the education system to give effect to the religious freedom and equality of rights guaranteed in the articles 20 and 25 of the constitution of Pakistan.
5) The political parties should adopt criterion to ensure representation from regions divisions of Pakistan.
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