ISLAMABAD, June 19: The Christian Liberation Front (CLF) Pakistan has asked President Gen Pervez Musharraf to restore reserved minorities seats in the national and provincial assemblies before the October general elections.

The CLF president, Shahbaz Bhatti, in a letter to President Musharraf, said the government had taken a bold step by restoring the system of joint electorate which would enable non-Muslim citizens to participate in the political process on equal basis.

He said due to the presence of an undemocratic system of separate electorate for a long time, a gulf had been created between the majority and minority communities. Hence, it is difficult for a minority candidate to get elected on a general seat.

Mr Bhatti said this arrangement could be maintained even for a specific period of time until a proper democratic culture had developed in Pakistan to accommodate non-Muslim citizens as candidates for the assemblies on general seats. If seats for women could be reserved, the same could be done in case of the minorities on the basis of their population, the CLF chief said.

The letter suggested that the President, under his electoral reforms, could ask the Election Commission of Pakistan to devise a mechanism under which political parties could be motivated to fix a quota of minority seats and issue tickets to minority candidates to contest election for national and provincial assemblies. This system is in practice in many democratic countries of the world, Mr Bhatti said in his letter. He also suggested that the NRB could also plan in this regard. Minorities should also be given representation in the Senate of Pakistan, he added.