May 05, 2008	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 28, 1429

ISLAMABAD, May 4: The religious minorities have sought representation in the Senate and an increase in their reserved seats in the National and provincial assemblies.

An amendment bill in this regard has been submitted in the National Assembly secretariat by MNA Shahbaz Bhatti.

Mr Bhatti, who is also chairman of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) and elected member of the National Assembly on reserved seat, told a press conference here on Sunday that the bill seeks amendment in Articles 51, 59 and 106 of the Constitution.

The amendment proposed in Article 59 seeks allocation of nine reserved seats for minorities in the upper house of the parliament — two each from the four provinces and one from the Federal Capital.

Amendments in Articles 51 seek doubling of the reserved seats for minorities in the National Assembly from 10 to 20.

Likewise an amendment in Article 106 has been proposed to increase the number of reserved seats in the Punjab Assembly from eight to 16, in Sindh assembly from nine to 18, in Balochistan and NWFP assembly from three to six each.

He appealed to all the political parties to support the proposed amendments in the parliament to meet the longstanding democratic and just demand of the minorities in the light of the directions given by Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah to give equal rights to the minorities to bring them in the mainstream.

“Therefore we expect all the political forces to support the bill and help remove the sense of deprivation prevailing among the minorities”, Mr Bhatti hoped.

He said consultations with different political parties had already been started. PML-Q secretary-general Mushahid Hussain Syed has indicated that his party would support the bill in principle, but will make a final decision when the bill was brought before the House for consideration.

He said all the political parties having representation in the parliament will be contacted to win their support in favour of the bill.

“All political parties should rise above the political divides and support the bill setting politics aside”, he remarked.