Pakistan’s census does not collect data on gypsies. The absence of any statistics for the community means that gypsies remain out of the government’s priority list, says Rana Asif, a human rights lawyer.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has also not taken any measure to ensure that all the gypsy population is added to the electoral rolls.”In Pakistan, any government servicemen or prisoner can cast vote through postal vote, however, there is no such rule for mobile population groups including gypsy communities,” says Kanwar Muhammad Dilshad, the former secretary of the ECP.
“Pakistan is a member of the Commonwealth. Other Commonwealth countries use mobile teams to reach voters in far flung areas who cannot reach polling stations on their own. If this method is used, it may increase the gypsies’ turn out,” Dilshad opines.
It isn’t just the state institutions who have ignored this community. Political parties and civil society groups have also not paid much attention to the disenfranchisement of the gypsies.
“No political party has mentioned this segment of the society in their election manifestos even though many parties and candidates rely on them to increase numbers at their rallies,” Asif notes.
The Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) that arranges trainings of different sectors on the importance of the vote and voting procedures admits that it hasn’t paid attention to gypsies so far. “In our training programmes, we have included different neglected segments like transgenders and differently-abled people. We should have included gypsies in the process too,” says Sarwar Bari, the secretary general of FAFEN.
Published in Daily Times, July 18th 2018.
