For the first time in Pakistan’s 70-year history, a Hindu woman is going to contest in the elections scheduled for July 25. Sunita Parmar (31) is set to become the first Hindu woman to contest in the Islamic country. Parmar, a resident of Pakistan’s Sindh province, is contesting for provincial assembly elections. Parmar is a member of Scheduled caste and belongs from the Meghwar community of the area. She is contesting as an independent candidate for the Sindh assembly constituency (PS-56) from Tharpakar district.
Tharpakar is one of Pakistan’s most backward assembly constituencies where there is a lack of development. The people often complain of a lack of proper facilities in schools, road and water. According to the Associated Press, the total population of Tharpakar is around 1.6 million. Most of the communities in the region are at the bottom level of the social class system. According to reports, more than 50 per cent of 1,52,000 registered voters is Hindus in this Thar district, which is the highest in the country.
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Pakistan will go for polls tomorrow (July 25, 2018) to elect a new Prime Minister. According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), there are around 3,459 candidates in the fray for 272 general seats of the National Assembly, while 8,396 candidates are in the fray for 577 general seats of the four provincial assemblies. There are around 5.96 million registered voters in the country.
“It has been very difficult and I have had to work very hard. In this, I have been greatly supported by the women of my area. I am doing this to get us out of the clutches of the elite class system. The middle-class people of Thar are tired of voting for these elite lords. It is my heartfelt desire to free us all of the elite class systems and improve our lives,” Parmar was quoted as saying by AP.
Parmar cited lack of development in the region as her main reason to contest the assembly polls. She alleged that previous governments have failed to develop and uplift the region. Parmar further added that she will work for the betterment of people, especially women in the region. “In rural areas, people face a lot of difficulties during labour. There are no roads so it is very difficult to find transportation. Quite often, women have died in route due to labour complications. There are so many such problems.” adding, “If I win the election, then I will open a maternity hospital that caters to two to three villages with a competent gynaecologist. Schools and education are almost non-existent here. People in Thar are unable to educate their children as there are no schools. Even the girls in villages across Thar (desert) hope to go educated. They want to be like other children but they are unable to due to lack of schools. Even if there is a school, there are no teachers. If I win, my first bill will be on education.”
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