SADIQABAD – Arjun Das Advocate, chairman of Pakistan Meghwar Council, has regretted that the representative of a caste having only 3,500 votes is present in the National Assembly but the scheduled castes which have 1.4 million votes has no representative in the assembly on the 10 seats reserved for minorities in Pakistan.
Likewise in Sindh province, 75 percent people of the minority belonged to the scheduled castes while their no representative is present in the Sindh Assembly and the same situation was in the Senate, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and the Balochistan Assembly. He said that it was proved that the process of getting representatives from the minorities in the assemblies was non-democratic, discriminatory and unjust. Therefore, he demanded, the method should be changed immediately. He also said that the communities’ members belonged to their respective parties and they do not represent the public thus they had no courage to raise a voice for the communities’ welfare nor they could heel their wounds by solving their problems.
Therefore, he demanded, such minorities’ members should be dismissed and be elected through the public votes. They also said that minorities should be given a right of double votes in accordance with the ratio of seats by determining constituencies. Only then, the chairman said, such elected representatives would be able to represent their people in the assemblies in the true sense, and steer them from the backwardness and deprivation and put them on the path to prosperity thereby also controbuting to the national progress. Repeatedly representatives of minorities and civil society call for giving scheduled caste people representation in parliament and putting in place an inexpensive election system to ensure election of honest persons, good governance and religious harmony in the country. Earlier, Mirchand Sahjani and Popat Kolhi of the Bheel Intellectual Forum said that members of minority communities had no representation in the assembly and those who were elected to reserved seats for minorities had no interest in resolving people’s problems, because the seats were sold to the highest bidders. They did not feel themselves answerable to people because they did not have any constituency or the electorate, they said.
Courtesy: The Nation
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/national/26-Sep-2013/scheduled-castes-give-voice-to-woes
Indus Asia Online Journal (Click here to go to home page)
This matter needs major attention from the government of Pakistan, Kindly raise the issue in UN assembly in the next session.
in 2008 in all 4 Provincial Assemblies and Senate no representation of Scheduled Caste, and in this 2013 General Election in National Assembly, Senate an Provincial Assemblies of Balochistan and KPK no representation of Scheduled Caste it shows that Govt: and Political Parties have any misappropriation in our loyalty with country and as well as parties so they deny our basic right as Pakistani citizen.
Yes the issues of scheduled caste minorities in Pakistan needs urgent attention to bring them into mainstream politics viewing their significant populations and socio-economic dilemma.