MUCH is made of the fact that Pakistan's national flag was designed to represent all the communities that were to live in this land. The green of the banner was meant to symbolise the Muslim majority and the white strip represented the non-Muslim minorities: Christian, Hindu, Parsi, Sikh and others. Six decades on, however, it seems that the country's minorities have been abandoned. The focus on the fact that in Pakistan the rights of the majority of the people are routinely trampled on tends to deflect our attention — and that of our political representatives — from the plight of minorities. People belonging to minority communities often suffer discrimination and victimisation. In part, this is because of a prejudiced societal attitude. However, it is also true that there are some glaring gaps in the country's laws vis-à-vis our minority communities. For example, one area in which our lawmakers have failed to legislate is marriages in the Hindu community. There are no laws to regulate marriages among Hindus. Neither is there any law regarding conversion.

More disturbingly, the minority communities complain that they do not have access to true representation. At a conference organised by the Young Hindu Panchayat in Hyderabad on Sunday, speakers pointed out that the current system in which political parties nominate minority representatives to be elected on reserved seats often results in a situation where the communities actually get little real representation. Among others, MNA Kishan Chand Parvani said that either the system of reserved seats should be abolished, or the minorities should be given dual voting rights so that they could directly elect their representatives. This issue requires a speedy resolution. The road to improving the lot of Pakistan's minorities begins with putting them in a position to elect representatives who are concerned about their constituencies and communities, and can negotiate on their behalf in parliament. The country's minorities need to be given a voice in the legislative and political arenas. It was pointed out at the conference that the minorities need to integrate in order to avoid even further marginalisation. Integration and assimilation into the mainstream begins with effective representation.