ICC Note:

A Pakistani parliamentary body has agreed to a constitutional amendment that will increase the number of reserved seats in parliament for religious minorities. The announcement was made the day before the 5th anniversary of the assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian cabinet member who was murdered in 2011 for his opposition to the country’s blasphemy laws. Increasing the representation of religious minorities was an important initiative of Bhatti’s and members of his political party expressed their approval of the Pakistani government’s recent announcement. 

3/2/2015 Pakistan (UCAN) – A Pakistani parliamentary body has agreed to a constitutional amendment to increase the number of reserved seats for the country’s religious minorities.

The move, which came the day before the fifth anniversary of the slaying of former minority affairs minister Shahbaz Bhatti on March 2, 2011, was welcomed by minority leaders, who called it a positive step.

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice made the decision on March 1 to back the move laid out in a constitution amendment bill put forward in 2014 by Asiya Nasir, a Christian member of parliament.

“The committee reached a consensus to increase the number of reserved seats in National Assembly by five, two each in the Punjab and Sindh assemblies, and one each in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan,” an official statement said.

When adopted, the number of reserved seats for minorities in the national assembly will rise to 15.

Minorities are currently allowed 10 reserved seats in the national parliament.

Tahir Naveed Chaudhry, head of Pakistan Minority Alliance, welcomed the committee’s decision to accept a “long-standing demand of minorities.”

He said the former alliance chief and slain former minister Shahbaz Bhatti, a Catholic, had tabled the motion some years ago, but it was deferred at the time.

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