At a national consultation arranged by the Minorities Rights Commission of Pakistan, representatives from the Hindu and Christian communities call for their greater involvement in political life and less discrimination.

Lahore (AsiaNews) – Hindus and Christians are demanding a joint electorate and voters lists in the upcoming August 18 local government elections. The demand was formulated by representatives of both groups who met at a national consultation arranged by the Minorities Rights Commission of Pakistan on July 5 in Lahore.

This comes after the National Election Commission (NEC) dissolved on June 30 all local governments, which were elected on the basis of separate confessional electorates.

The NEC announced that the next elections will be held on the basis of joint electorates but the voters' lists will be separate on the basis of religion.

Mehboob Ahmed from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan told Asia News that "the decision [to maintain] separate voters lists runs against the norms of democratic values, will create confusion and will again marginalise religious minorities in the whole political process".

Some minority representatives said that the current electoral system ignores the needs of religious minorities; any development project proposed by the few minority councillors "are completely ignored".

According to Cecil Chaudhry, executive secretary of the National Christian Action Forum, religious minorities "should actively take part in the elections" and the election commission should be more independent and should not discriminate against voters from religions other than Islam.

Pakistan has a population of 148 million, 96.1 per cent Muslim. Christians constitute about 2.5 per cent with more than a million Catholics. (AM)

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