Reserved seats for women and minorities to be eliminated in a proposal put forward by the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) lawmaker on Tueday.
JUI-F lawmaker Aliya Kamran proposed to wipe away the reserved seats for women and minorities saying the reserved seats were weakening the minorities.
“Issues of minorities would not be addressed even if we increase the number of seats for them because they would not be able to address their issues. Moreover, Dr Vankwani was a part of the previous government and his similar bill could not sail through parliament then. Now he is also a part of the government but it is not for sure if his bill would sail through the parliament,” she said.
She further stated that she is not in favor of reserved seats although she herself reached the Assembly through same process.
A number of Pakistani origin/ Muslim people had succeeded in getting remarkable positions in politics of United Kingdom, even no reserved seats exist there, said Rana Sanaullah, a leader of PML-N.
“We should provide opportunities to minorities so that they could be mainstreamed and reach parliament through direct elections,” he added.
PTI legislator Sanaullah Khan Mastikhel commented that political parties are not much developed to get votes on the basis of rights.
“I belong to southern Punjab and know votes in the area are cast on the basis of Biradaris. Politics has changed in India but not in Pakistan,” he added.
Shunila Ruth, a committee member, and a nominated MNA on a minority seat by PTI, taunted Ms Kamran as “she was not living in Pakistan.”
“We should analyze if we have progressed so much that marginalized segments of society would be uplifted. Even women cannot become MNA through direct elections. The concept of reserved seats was introduced to give an opportunity to people to speak about their issues. Unfortunately, no one speaks about the issues of minorities. We should give a voice to the voiceless,” she further said.
MNA Malik Mohammad Ehsanullah Tiwana said the number of reserved seats for minorities should be increased so that they would speak about their rights.
The committee postponed the bills after discussions, saying that a subcommittee shall be constituted which would formulate specific recommendations.