Islam Times - Hindu Dalit women elected to Pakistan Senate

Islam Times - Pakistan has elected its first female senator from a Hindu Dalit minority group, a socially disadvantaged community in the country.

Krishna Kumari Kolhi, 39, from Thar in Sindh Province, was born to a peasant family related to 19th-century freedom fighter Rooplo Kolhi, who was hanged by the British colonialist forces.

Despite all sorts of calamities, including forced labor, imprisonment, and teen marriage, Kolhi managed to obtain a masters’ degree in sociology from the University of Sindh.

She and her brother Veerji Kohli, who is a well-known human rights advocate implicated in a murderous land dispute, hail from Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), linked to assassinated prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Krishna’s rise to the Upper House is seen as a major achievement for advocates of women and minority rights in the impoverished Muslim-majority country.

Speaking about her main objectives in her new capacity as senator, Krishna, who was married at 16 when she was in 9th grade, said that she wanted to enforce existing laws against child marriage and forced conversion.

“Child marriages and forced conversions are some of the pressing issues which need to be addressed urgently,” she said.

“Many laws have been drafted for the rights of women but none of them have been implemented — something I wish to change,” she said, adding, “I will not only represent women of Thar but act as a representative for women across the country and speak for their rights.”

In related news over the weekend, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) won 15 seats in the Senate, securing a total of 33 spots in the 104-seat Upper House.

“Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has secured a clear majority in the Senate polls,” the party announced late Saturday on its official Twitter account.

The ruling party’s commanding majority comes after the Supreme Court toppled PML-N prime minister Nawaz Sharif from the premiership in July over corruption allegations.

The former prime minister says he and his family members have been the victims of a conspiracy driven by Pakistan’s powerful military establishment.

PPP won the second largest number of seats in the contest.

The third place went to Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI), which is a political party in Pakistan founded in 1996 by former national cricket captain Imran Khan.

PTI has been in a slump.