Source: Punjab Kesari (Hindi), December 3, 2000


ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN: The Pakistani Hindu community has decided to boycott the local elections. These residents of the southern sector of Sindh province are opposing the electoral system that deprives the minorities of its voting rights. The decision to boycott the election was taken at a meeting held at Jakokabad in which more than 35 Hindu organizations participated. In the meeting, addressing over five hundred delegates coming from the whole province, former members of parliament Hari Ram, Kishori Ram and Pitambar Ray said that the minorities were being denied the right to vote granted to them by the constitution. The representatives participating in the meeting said that they will not accept the ordinance under which a different electoral process has been proposed which deprives them of their voting rights.