Quotas in Pakistan

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Quotas in Pakistan were introduced in order to give equal opportunity for jobs, representation in assemblies and educational institutions to women, non-Muslims and people from under developed rural areas. Quotas are also called reservations in Pakistan.

The 1956, 1962, 1970, 1973 and 1985 amendments of the constitution all provided for reserved seats for women at both the provincial and national assemblies, but of small magnitude, mostly 5 per cent to 10 per cent and through indirect elections by the members of the assemblies themselves. Reservations lapsed in 1988 after three general elections as provided for in the 1985 amendment. In the general elections of 1997, women’s representation hovered between 4 per cent in the provincial assemblies (2 out of 460) to 2 per cent in the Senate (2 out of 87) and 4 per cent in the National Assembly (7 out of 217). At the local government level, where 5 per cent to 12 per cent of the seats were reserved for women through indirect elections by the councils themselves, women constituted only 10 per cent of the membership in 1993 (8,246 out of 75,556).

Provincial Assembly	General	Women	Non-Muslim	Total
Balochistan	51	11	3	65
North-West Frontier Province	99	22	3	124
Punjab	297	66	8	371
Sindh	130	29	9	168
Total	577	128	23	728