October 15, 2024
By Rehan Piracha
LAHORE
The proposed constitutional package must include amendments that do away with discrimination towards religious minorities in Pakistan and make them equal citizens, a statement passed on Tuesday by the Minorities Alliance Pakistan (MAP) said.
“We, the Pakistani minorities, demand amendments to Articles 36, 40, 51, 91, 106 and 203 of the Constitution so that the Pakistani minorities’ population of 10 million can be freed from the constitutional discriminatory treatment and from restrictions on holding constitutional offices, and can live as equal and equivalent citizens in the country,” Akmal Bhatti, central chairman of MAP, told Voicepk.
Bhatti said the minority members of the National Assembly and Senate, have failed to jointly present any proposed legislation to protect the rights of their communities, adding that the parliamentarians disconnect from their minority community was extremely shameful and unforgivable.
He said major political parties and their leaders have also failed to seriously try and fulfil the trust placed in them by their voters and have done nothing in practice to give minorities equal constitutional status.
Discrepancies in the Constitution
The MAP chairman said the alliance had prepared a draft of constitutional amendments to abolish discrimination against religious minorities in the Constitution.
“Presently, a non-Muslim cannot become the President or Prime Minister of Pakistan, nor can a non-Muslim lawyer practice in the Federal Shariat Court,” he pointed out. According to the draft amendments, Article 41 will abolish the restriction for a non-Muslim citizen to become president of the country.
“Article 41(2): Regarding the qualification of the President, where it states, “A person shall not be qualified for election as President unless he is a Muslim of not less than forty-five years of age and is qualified to be elected as member of the National Assembly’, the word Muslim may be removed,”
reads the proposed draft.
The alliance also demanded an amendment be made in Article 90(3) to remove the bar on non-Muslim members of the National Assembly to become the Prime Minister.
Bhatti said other amendments in the draft related to increasing the number of seats for minorities in the national and provincial assemblies, which has not been done for over two decades.
Under Article 51(4), the 10 reserved seats for minorities, should be increased according to the new population census, he said.
“Proportional representation of non-Muslims for reserved seats should be changed to strengthen the democratic system,” he said. This system of proportional representation of seats for the non-Muslims does not adhere to the democratic process, Bhatti said.
“The election to seats for minorities and women should be held on delimited constituencies in the national and provincial assemblies,” he said.
Regarding the Senate, the seats from the federal capital include two general seats, one woman, and one technocrat. “This could be amended to include one minority seat from the federal capital,” he added.
Enactment of laws
Apart from the constitutional amendments, MAP also called for the enactment of legislation to replace colonial laws regarding marriages and inheritance matters of the minorities.
“Laws relating to inheritance, marriage, and divorce of Christians have become obsolete as these were enacted in colonial times over a hundred years ago,” Bhatti pointed out.
He said the minorities commission was established through an executive order and was a toothless body as it did not enjoy financial independence and powers as other statutory commissions like the National Commission on Status of Women and the National Commission on Child Rights do.
“We have appealed to the President, Prime Minister and to PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, JUI-F leader Fazlur Rehman, PTI founder Imran Khan and other parliamentary party heads, to remove the constitutional restrictions on minorities in the 26th constitutional amendment bill,” he said. He said the MAP draft of constitutional amendments has also been shared with the political parties.
“MAP will soon hold a conference of representatives from all minority communities in case our proposed amendments are not taken up in the constitutional package,” he said.