Minorities complain of discrimination
A sight to behold No non-Muslim among 65 ministers, advisers, officials in PTI’s federal, provincial governments
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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) must be proud of its reform programmes and prioritising austerity in all min istries, divisions and government departments within 14 days of forming the federal government.
At the same time, it has failed to pay attention to the plight of religious minorities living in Pakistan.
Whether by oversight or on purpose, the PTI government has failed to give representation to Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Ahmadis and other religious minorities in the country, in its government, minorities lamented.
No minority representative has been made a cabinet member A visible surge was witnessed in the number of minorities candidates from province of Punjab coupled with the federal capital that showed interest to come forward and contest in the upcoming general elections raising the number from 56 in last polls to 232 this time. According to official data of ECP, a total number of 625 minorities candidates filed nomination papers to returning officers for contesting general elections 2018 for National Assembly as well as provincial assembly slots as compared to 310 in general elections 2013.
As many as 154 candidates are in the run to get a seat in the National Assembly, while 471 are willing to book their seat in provincial houses. About 73 minorities candidates submitted nomination papers from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa including Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) as compared to 70 in the previous elections five years back in 2013.
A dip was observed in the number of candidates from Balochistan, where only 56 candidates are willing to be part of the provincial house as compared to 61 last time. Whereas in Sindh, the number of interested candidates dropped from 123 in 2013 to 110 for 2018. in the PTI government at the centre, with 21 members, Punjab (23 ministers), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (11) or even in Balochistan (10) where the PTI is a coalition partner.
In Pakistan, around 10 million out of the 220 million population are non-Muslims. They are scattered across almost all provinces, regions and areas of the country.
Hindus, largest minority
According to the 2017 census, Hindus constitute the largest religious minority (5 million) in Pakistan. Of this 5 million, around 3.5 million live in interior Sindh and the rest in Punjab, KP and Balochistan. Christians make up the second largest religious minority, with almost the same number (4.5 million) and their concentration is mostly in urban Sindh, Punjab and parts of Balochistan.
Ahmadis, Sikhs and Parsi are also among the notable religious minorities living in parts of Punjab, KP and Sindh respectively.
Bahais, another religious minority, live mostly in Islamabad and northern Punjab.
Speaking to Gulf News, representatives of religious minorities expressed dismay and fears that the PTI-government, helmed by cricketer-turnedpolitician, Prime Minister Imran Khan, is least mindful of their plight.
If the federal and provincial governments of Punjab, KP and Balochistan continued to ignore them without paying attention to their grievances, it would prove dangerous to harmony and peace in Pakistan, they said.