Hindu woman from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa scores a first in Pakistan polls

For the first time ever, a Hindu woman in Buner district of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has filed her nomination papers for a general seat in the imminent Pakistan general elections, news agency ANI reported quoting Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper.

Saveera Parkash has filed her nomination papers for the PK-25 general seat in Buner district on a Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) ticket. Her father, Oam Parkash, a retired doctor, has been a PPP member for 35 years.

The Dawn quoted local politician Saleem Khan of the Qaumi Watan Party as saying that Parkash is the first woman from Buner to submit nomination papers on a general seat.

Parkash, who graduated from the Abbottabad International Medical College in 2022, is the general secretary of the PPP women’s wing in Buner. She has expressed the desire to work for women’s safety and rights and the area’s underprivileged in general.

Parkash has been quoted as saying that “serving humanity is in [her] blood”.

The Pakistan national polls are scheduled to be held on February 8, 2024. According to Dawn, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) made amendments recently to that warrant a five per cent inclusion of women candidates in general seats.

(With agency inputs)