wfn.org | Pakistani Christians fight against 'apartheid' in election system

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Note #6781 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

07-August-2001
01265

Pakistani Christians fight against 'apartheid' in election system

Court ruling 'chips away' at discriminatory voting process, they claim

by Anto Akkara
Ecumenical News International

NEW DELHI - Christian leaders in Pakistan have gained ground in a campaign
against an election system that identifies voters by religion and, they
claim, discriminates against religious minorities.

	The Pakistani Supreme Court recently ruled that Christians may contest the
post of village or district council head, a judgment that chips away at the
nation's current voting system and in effect supports the notion of more
voting rights for religious minorities, Christian activists claimed.

	Heads of more than 5,000 village and municipal councils were slated to be
chosen by elected representatives on Aug. 2.

	Although the nation's highest court did not endorse Christian demands for a
complete abolition of the election system, Christian church leaders welcomed
the ruling.

	"We are happy that [the court] has taken note of the injustice we are
facing," said Catholic priest Bonnie Mendis, a leader of the ecumenical
Christian Organization for Social Action in Pakistan (COSAP). "It is for the
government to give us equal rights as citizens."

	Pakistan's separate electorate system (SES) was imposed in 1979 under
General Zia-ul Haq's martial rule. Under the system, citizens cannot vote
for candidates outside their own religious affiliation: Muslim voters can
only vote for Muslim candidates, Christians for Christian candidates and
Hindus for Hindu candidates. About 3 million of Pakistan's population of 140
million are Christian; approximately 97 per cent of the nation is Muslim.

	At the national level, 10 seats out of 217 at the National Assembly are
reserved for religious minorities - four for Christians, four for Hindus and
two for people of other
religions.

	Under SES, recently concluded village council elections permitted
Christians voters a single vote as compared with five votes each for Muslim
voters, who were able to vote for a range of posts on the council such as
those for women and labor leaders.

	The village council head is chosen from among the elected members of the
village council. The supreme court ruling means that Christians who have
been elected to village councils may now contest this post, something that
had previously been ruled out by election officials as contravening SES.

	Victor Azariah, general secretary of the National Council of Churches of
Pakistan (NCCP), welcomed the Supreme Court ruling, but told ENI that
"Christians can rejoice over it only when the government and the election
commission abolish the separate electorate system. The judgment should be
turned into law to end this discrimination."

	The NCCP is a forum of non-Catholic Christians in Pakistan comprising the
Church of Pakistan, Presbyterian Church, Salvation Army and Association of
Reformed Churches.

	The NCCP and the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Pakistan had called for a
boycott of the local body elections - which were held in four phases from
December to July - as a protest against the separate electorate.

	Concerned that the campaign might garner political sympathy, the government
tried to stop the boycott by extending the filing date for minority
candidates and putting pressure on Christian politicians not to withdraw
their candidacy, Father Mendis said.

	But the campaign picked up steam, garnering political support at a
convention organized in June by the National Commission for Justice and
Peace of the Catholic Bishops' Conference in Lahore. Representatives of more
than a dozen major political parties endorsed the Christian activists'
demand for dismantling the SES.

	"No one has the right to discriminate against minorities because of their
religious identity," Imran Khan, head of the Tehrik?I?Insaf party, said at
the convention.

	"To regain social and national integrity we should demand the restoration
of the joint electorate system," added Khan, the popular former captain of
Pakistan's cricket team.

	Ijaz-ul-hassan of the Pakistan Peoples Party called the SES a "negation of
true democracy," stating that "a handful of fundamentalists have taken 140
million Pakistanis hostage."

	The chair of the convention, Catholic Bishop Joseph Coutts of Faisalabad,
told ENI that "the present [election] system here is really nothing but
political apartheid."

	"We want to be treated as equal citizens. We will continue our struggle
peacefully for that," said the bishop, who had succeeded Bishop John Joseph.
In 1998, Bishop Joseph shot himself in protest against Pakistan's Blasphemy
Law and what he considered to be the harassment of Christians.

	Asserting that the "qurbani" (sacrifice) of his predecessor "has not gone
in vain," Bishop Coutts said that "change does not take place all of a
sudden. We need to be consistent and keep trying."

	There is "growing awareness" among Christians and others of "the political
isolation" of minorities in Pakistan, he said. "But, that is not enough. We
want the government to put an end to this undeclared apartheid."
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