We want elections, not selections: Pakistan Christian Movement

LAHORE: Pakistan Christian Movement on Thursday held a demonstration in front of Lahore Press Club to protest the non-representation [selection system] of minority communities in the current electoral system of Pakistan.

Addressing the protesters, the chairman of Pakistan Christian Movement, Riaz Anjum, lamented that the current system has stripped the Christians along with other minorities of their free will due to which they have become dependent on the major political parties for representation [in parliament and provincial assemblies]. The reserved seats have done injustice to the Christian community of the country and to Constitution as well, he added.

The protesters demanded the right to elect the individuals on reserved seats as against to the selection of the said candidates; an increase in the number of reserved seats along with delimitation of new constituencies for the seats so that their representative could contest elections from these constituencies.

The participants also called for an end to the selection system and demanded the right for electing their members through votes.

They further said that there was no increase in the number of seats since 1981 despite the fact there was an [overall] increase in the number of seats in parliament during the reign of retired general Pervez Musharraf, in 2002.  In light of the previous increase in the number of seats in the assemblies, “We demand an increase in the number of seats with respect to our population.”

The Movement’s General Secretary Kashif Naimat, Media Coordinator Sheraz Bhatti, Noor Elahi, Lala Bhagat, Shazia Gill and others also addressed on the occasion.

A number of political activists have spent years raising voices against the injustices faced by the minority communities — a term the state uses to describe Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Ahmadis and others, as state refuses to address widespread irritation among the members of these communities, and integrate 2.3 million people in mainstream politics.