ISLAMABAD, Sept 24: The Supreme Court has been approached to end discrimination against Qadianis in the forthcoming general elections, as by deleting their names from the voters lists, they have been deprived of the right to contest elections.

Petitioner Shahid Orakzai, in his constitutional petition under Article 184(3) of the Constitution and filed on Tuesday, has stated that Article 7C of the Conduct of Elections Order, 2002, was discriminatory against a specified minority because it deprived those who did not sign an oath about the finality of the Prophethood of Muhammad (PBUH).

He stated that Article 7C was extremely discriminatory against Qadiani group and negated the very theme and purpose of joint electorate.

It deprived Qadianis from participation in election both as voters and as a candidate for a general seat.

He further contended that there was no rationale for including the oath about the finality of the Prohpethood of Holy Prophet Mohammad, in nomination form unless all the general seats were formally allocated to Muslims.

“The provision that anyone refusing to take oath would get his name deleted from the joint electoral rolls is all more ridiculous. How an electoral roll be called a joint electoral if the name of a non-Muslim is deleted just because of his belief.”