Pakistan Elects First Lower-Caste Hindu Woman to Senate
The governing party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, emerged as the largest
party in Saturday’s senate elections, ahead of the Pakistan Peoples Party.
Ms. Kumari — a native of the Tharparkar district in Sindh Province, a traditional Pakistan Peoples Party stronghold — comes from a family of peasants,
and as a Dalit is a member of the so-called untouchables caste.
The election of Ms. Kumari to the senate is remarkable in this context,
and the Pakistan Peoples Party has presented it as an example of the party’s liberal credentials and the importance it gives to religious minorities.
Ms. Kumari, who joined the Pakistan Peoples Party in 2010, said in an interview
that her nomination as a candidate for the senate had come as a surprise both to her and to the her community in Sindh.
The woman, Krishna Kumari, 39, a human rights activist and member of the Pakistan Peoples Party, was elected as a senator over the weekend.
After the weekend elections, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz now controls 33 seats, the Pakistan Peoples Party has 20
and another opposition party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, has 12.
By SALMAN MASOODMARCH 5, 2018
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A Hindu woman from a lower caste has been elected to the senate for the first time in Pakistan,
a Muslim-majority country where religious minorities have long suffered intimidation and violence.