Islamabad, Pakistan - A watchdog body in Pakistan has alleged discrimination against religious minorities, including Hindus and Sikhs, in the registration of voters for the general elections due at the end of the year.
A monitoring report by the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP), a non-governmental organisation working for minority rights, said the voter lists discriminates against the minorities in the country.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has displayed the voters lists across the country since June 12 to allow the citizens to check and correct their entries.
The monitoring of the list has shown discrimination against the religious minorities, which is likely to jeopardize their civil and political rights. Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Parsis have been combined in one list, whereas Ahmadis have been put in separate list, the NCJP said.
Jagjit Singh and his family are the only Sikhs in Tharparkar, the home of Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim, who have been registered to vote.
There are a total of 2.7 million Hindus living in Sindh with a Sikh minority. There are a total of 405,525 registered voters from district Tharparkar.
Tharparkar is supposed to be a Hindu stronghold. It has 163,316 Hindu voters, 122 Christian and 21 Qadiani voters, according to lists displayed by the Election Commission.
A number of Christian voters have complained of discrepancies alleging that their names were not registered though they submitted their registration forms.
Afzal Masih of Bahar Colony, Kot Lakhpat in Lahore, was quoted as saying by the Daily Times that he had submitted the forms of his family members, but to no avail.