President signs amendment in Senate Rules reserving four non-Muslim seats

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday signed, at a special ceremony, amendment in the Senate (Election) Rules 1975 in compliance with provision in 18th Constitutional Amendment to reserve four seats for non-Muslims in the Upper House of Parliament.

Under the 18th Constitutional Amendment Act 2010, four seats for non-Muslims, one from each province have been reserved in the Senate who will be elected by the members of each Provincial Assembly from the next Senate election.

This is for the first time that Senate will also have reserved seats for non-Muslims. Previously, ten reserved seats were provided for in the National Assembly for non-Muslims but none in the Senate.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by Chairman of Senate Farooq H. Naek, Leader of the House in Senate Syed Nayyar Hussain Bokhari and Senators belonging to PPP and other political parties besides senior government officials.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011