Pakistan´s Electoral Reforms Committee has submitted a report that proposes a major change in the polling system. It would restore the right of dual vote to the country´s religious minorities, allowing them to cast ballots in the national and provincial assemblies as well as for reserved seats for minority candidates in the assemblies.
Even though the final draft is not in, the report has been accepted by the federal cabinet. As expected, the action sparked immediate protest from the main opposition and the religious parties.
Non-Muslims form about 3.5 percent of Pakistan´s 130 million population. Allowing them to vote for Muslim as well as non-Muslim candidates would be the first step toward removing the separate electorate system imposed in 1985 by Gen Ziaul Haq. Under the general´s writ, non-Muslims were restricted to voting separately for a designated number of non-Muslim seats, and they were barred from contesting elections for (Muslim) national or provincial assembly seats.
The result had been to effectively marginalise the non-Muslim population, as the parties no longer had to woo them. The few non-Muslim representatives that were elected could do little to influence policies or legislation. The restricted voting system became the basis for growing discrimination against the country´s religious minorities. These included, for example, the increasing use of the so-called "blasphemy law", also the late dictator´s doing.