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Equal voting status for Pak. minorities
ISLAMABAD, JAN. 16. In a major electoral reform, Pakistan's military regime scrapped the discriminatory electoral system for the religious minorities today and allowed them to vote and contest elections along with the Muslim majority.
Also, the Government increased the number of the National Assembly seats, or the powerful Lower House of Parliament, by 48 per cent to give more representation to the people, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported quoting Tanwir Hussain Naqvi, chairman of the National Reconstruction Bureau.
The announcement came in the wake of a massive crackdown on extremist Islamic groups, which vehemently opposed any attempt by former liberal democratic Governments to introduce joint electorate system.
Pakistan's religious minorities, including Christians and Hindus, have long been demanding joint electoral system, saying that the separate electorate isolated the minorities, cutting them off from the mainstream.
The separate electoral system was introduced by the former military ruler, Mohammed Zia-ul-Haq in the 1980s.
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