RAWALPINDI: Though all the 46 union councils (UCs) in the city have special seats reserved for non-Muslims, almost 75 per cent of them would not have any representation from minority communities.

The reason: only 12 UCs meet the criterion for a minority representative in the local government.

Under the Local Government Act 2013, there would be a reserved seat for non-Muslims in each of the union councils having at least 50 non-Muslim votes.

Almost 75pc of the 46 union councils do not meet criterion of at least 50 non-Muslim votes to fill reserved seats

In each UC, its chairman, vice-chairman and six general councillors are elected directly while two women, two labour, one youth and one minority member are nominated by the political party having a majority in the house concerned.

Christians are the main religious minority in the garrison city while Hindus are in limited numbers. Most of the Christian localities are in the NA-55 constituency along Satellite Town, Arya Mohallah, Asghar Mall and Pirwadhai. Christians also live in the cantonment areas.

The union councils which would have non-Muslim members on reserved seats are: UC 3 Hazara Colony, UC-4 Dhoke Mangtal, UC-5 Dhoke Hassu North, UC-6 Dhoke Hassu South, UC-7 Fauji Colony, UC-8 Bangash Colony, UC-9 Pirwadhai, UC-10, Khyaban-i-Sir Syed-I, UC-24 Dhoke Ali Akbar UC-25 Sadiqabad, UC-26 Efandi Colony and UC-27 Muslim Town.

There are two reserved seats for non-Muslims in the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) which would be filled by the PML-N as it has a majority in the house.

But it is strange that the PML-N, which is in power in Punjab and Islamabad, made different laws for minorities living in the capital and those in the province. In Islamabad, minorities have been given the right to elect their members directly but in Punjab the political party having a majority in any UC and the RMC would nominate the members on the reserved seats.

All Pakistan Minority Alliance (APMA) spokesmen Shamoon Gill told Dawn that the Christian community had reservations on the allocation of reserved seats for minorities in the local government system.

“Like Islamabad, the provincial government should give the right to minority communities to elect their representatives directly.”

He said sometimes the non-Muslim community wanted to chose their representatives but political parties imposed their preferred candidates on them by nominating them on the reserved seats. As such candidates have no link with the citizens, they only work for the political parties and never care for the welfare of the community, he observed.

“In Punjab, most of the union councils have no non-Muslim votes while in the municipal corporation only two reserved seats have been allocated to them,” he said.   

Malik Shakil Awan, a former PML-N MNA and the in charge for NA-55, told Dawn that the ruling party had allocated two minority seats each in the RMC and the District Council (consisting of rural area UCs) so that they could get funds for the development of their localities.

However, he admitted that most of the union councils in the garrison city had no minority population and the seats reserved for the non-Muslims would remain vacant.

He said in the past the reserved seats for minorities were meant for those union councils which had more than 200 votes of non-Muslims but the number of votes was reduced to a minimum of 50. Despite this, he added, many union councils would not have representation from minorities.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2015