Historic first for Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: A woman from Pakistan’s marginalised Hindu minority has been elected to the senate for the first time in an election in which a Taliban-linked cleric was defeated at the weekend.
Krishna Kumari, a member of the Pakistan People’s Party, hails from the so-called untouchables, the lowest rung of the caste system that still prevails in Pakistan and neighbouring India.
Lawmakers in national and four provincial assemblies on Saturday elected half of the 104-member senate to six-year terms.
Deposed premier Nawaz Sharif ’s party holds a plurality of 33 seats in the upper house of parliament after winning 15 in Saturday’s elections. Former president Asif Zardari’s party came second, followed by the party led by former cricket star, Imran Khan.
Khan’s party supported Maulana Samiul Haq, a mentor to a number of Taliban leaders, but he fell short. Extremist groups in Pakistan have mobilised mass rallies in recent years in protest against US policies and to support tough anti-blasphemy laws, but have largely failed to translate their clout into electoral victories.
Most of Pakistan’s Hindu population fled to India as part of the population exchange after the 1947 partition. Those who remain live on the political and economic margins, and like other minorities they have endured discrimination at the hands of the Muslim majority.
“I feel delighted,” she said. Kumari, who was born and raised in a remote district, attributed her success to her parents, who encouraged her to pursue her education and eventually helped her to earn a university degree. She later worked for a non-governmental organisation before joining the Pakistan People’s Party of slain prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
The party nominated her for a seat reserved for minority candidates from the Sindh province, where it holds a majority.
“I will continue to work for the rights of the oppressed people,” she said. Kumari, who worked in the fields alongside her parents as a child, will take the oath of office later this month alongside some of the biggest landowners in the country.