PESHAWAR, Dec 27: A minority union councillor and chief of Minorities Coordination Party (MCP), Dr Stephen Saleem Hamdard, has challenged in the Peshawar High Court the non-representation of non-Muslims in the Senate, and has prayed the court to issue directives to the federal government in this regard.

Stephen has filed a writ petition in the high court through Siddique Haider Qureshi, saying that it is a great injustice with the minorities that they are not given representation in the upper house of the parliament.

The petitioner has also filed an application with the main writ petition, praying the court to stay the Senate polls if the government announces any schedule for it.

The petitioner said since the establishment of the Senate the minorities had not been given representation there. He further said that through the Conduct of General Elections Order, 2002, four seats each were reserved for female and technocrats in each of the province, whereas no seats were reserved for minorities.

He questioned as to why the minorities were discriminated while reserving the seats.

Stephen claimed that they had sent appeals to successive governments but in vain as no reply was given to them till now.