KARACHI – Pakistan’s first Hindu Dalit politician Krishna Kumari Kohli has been listed in the BBC 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world for 2018.
The BBC 100 women list includes women from over 60 countries aged between 15 and 94.
The 40-year-old politician has been placed on 48 in the list.
The British broadcaster describes her credentials as “Krishna was elected to the Pakistan Senate after campaigning for women’s rights, having previously been forced into bonded labour for three years.”
Krishna Kumari, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader is also the first-ever senator from a low cast Hindu community.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/pakistan/krishna-kumari-becomes-first-hindu-dalit-woman-senator-of-pakistan/
Kohli, who comes from Nagarparkar village in Thar of the Sindh province, was born to a poor peasant family in 1979.
She and her family were held captive as bonded labourers for at least three years in a jail run by a landlord when Kohli was a child.
Krishna Kohli had joined the PPP as a social activist and actively worked for the rights of the marginalised communities of Thar.
Kumari was married to Lalchand at the age of 16, when she was studying in 9th grade. However, her husband supported her in her studies, and later in 2013, she did masters in sociology from Sindh University.
She is also a human rights activist whose specialties involve women’s rights, bonded labour, and sexual harassment at the workplace.
