Four bills seeking more seats for minorities pending in National Assembly

Four private members bills seeking more seats for minorities in the National Assembly are pending for further deliberation while a bill seeking reserved seats for persons with disabilities has already been rejected. PML-N minority legislator Ramesh Kumar introduced a constitutional amendment bill seeking increase in the number of seats for minorities and their direct election, suggesting the grant of right to dual vote to minorities for general and reserved seats polls.
The bill says the delimitation of constituencies for elections on reserved seats should be on the basis of existing divisions and non-Muslim population residing in those divisions. "The reserved seats for the minorities should be abolished as members elected on these seats don't serve their respective communities," Kumar told Business Recorder.
He said the members elected on the reserved seats represent their respective political parties instead of their communities. "The members don't get votes from their communities; so they also don't care to serve them," he said. MQM MNA Kishwar Zehra introduced a bill in the Lower House seeking representation of persons with disabilities in the National Assembly and Senate.
The legislator has sought an amendment to Article 51 of the Constitution to create four reserved seats in the National Assembly and the Senate for persons with disabilities. The National Assembly's Standing Committee on Law, Justice and Human Rights discussed the bill but rejected creation of reserved seats for persons with disabilities. The law ministry representatives in the committee opposed creation of the reserved seats, saying this would encourage other segments of the society like labourers and farmers to seek reserved seats for them in the parliament as well.
MQM members have also introduced the Constitutional Amendment Bill 2014 in the National Assembly seeking an increase in the number of seats for religious minorities in national and provincial assemblies. The bill has proposed amendments in Articles 51 and 106 of the Constitution. The legislators suggested in the bill that seats for the minorities should be increased from 10 to 15 in the National Assembly and they all should be directly elected in the general elections.
The MQM legislators are of the view that reserved seats for the minorities should be abolished in the parliament and political parties should give tickets to members from the minorities to contest general elections. Almost the same bill was tabled by another six legislators but they all are still pending with the National Assembly Standing Committee on Law, Justice and Human Rights for further deliberation.
The National Assembly's Standing Committee on Law, Justice and Human Rights discussed all four bills and deferred them seeking direct election, increase in seats for minorities and dual vote system for further deliberation. The committee members supported the direct election for minority members, but they suggested a fresh census before making any decision for increasing reserved seats for minorities' in national and provincial assemblies.