Parliament is not a democratic and representative body of the people, as 80 unelected members of the National Assembly (MNA) are sitting inside on reserved seats, without taking votes from the public or being answerable to people, renowned minorities rights activist and former federal minister J Salik said on Thursday during an exclusive interview with Pakistan Today.
Salik, who is also convener of the World Minorities Alliance, said that the dream of nationalism and progress will not come true until true democracy is practiced and representation, through vote, is given to all segments of society. The former minister said that in non-elected MNAs, 70 are woman and 10 minority MNAs on reserved seats which are mostly Hindu and, instead of being elected through ballot, are “chosen or selected” by bigwigs of political parties under “the seat selling formula” based on preference of funds they might give to the party or serve the party leadership in other way possible.
Salik said that under the payments method, Hindus from Sindh get around 7 out of the 10 seats of minorities in the NA because they are rich and it is easy for them to pay Rs 20 million for one seat to political parties. He said that compared to Hindus, the population of Christians in Pakistan is three times more but it is not seen in parliament.
The minorities’ rights activist said that former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf introduced the “selection method” on minority seats and parliament also adopted the same method, caring least for rights of minorities. Regarding a question about his unique protest methods, Salik said that people have become callous to issues and take protests as a routine so he shows the people his sincerity by holding protests in real ways only to speak out his heart.
About the alleged looting policy of MNAs and ministers, the former minister said as a minister, he did not get any plot, house or any financial benefit from the government while others are looting the nation with both hands using all sophisticated corruption methods in addition to “special grants”. Salik said that he was elected MNA three times by maximum votes from the public and after abolition of the ballot method and introduction of selection method; he is out of parliament, as he could not buy a seat by paying Rs 20 million like others.
He said that former federal minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti, who was killed recently, was also a non-elected MNA and now a competition is on between Khato Mal, a Hindu, and Javed Michael, a Christian, to fill the seat vacated by death of Bhatti and all depends on the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leadership, as it will choose one person out of the three names, which it had suggested for minorities seats during the general elections.
Answering a question about distribution of reserved seats among political parties, he said that if a political party wins 100 seats in the general elections it secures rights to four MNA seats from reserved seats, as it is determined by a formula of one seat against 25 seats of a political party. He demanded abolition of the selection method and said that all 10 minority representatives should be elected through balloting so that true representatives of minorities might reach parliament.
About women reserved seats, Salik said that it is also wrong as non-representative women did not contribute to growth of the nation and women of a few selected families come to parliament in the name of representation of women. Talking about lack of nationalism and solidarity threats facing Pakistan, the former minister said that drone attacks and internal solidarity rifts could not end unless citizens develop strong nationalism, which is seen no where in the country.
“Strangely, the American Centre, German Centre and national centres of other countries are working in Pakistan while Pakistan National Centre was abolished in 1992 from Lahore for reasons best known to the rulers. The country is divided in regional nationalities like Sindhi, Punjabi and Baloch etc only because the government has not taken steps to promote nationalism in practical ways like other nations do,” the minorities’ rights campaigner said.
He said national centres should be established in various cities to inculcate nationalism among the younger generation, which is coming under influence of other nations.
